The battle has been lost, but the war?
by Mako-Magic
Summary: FF7 & 8. Sephiroth has won the last battle, and got himself his puppet back, AVALANCHE is nearly all dead, with time and skill he can send his puppet Cloud to new worlds to start the begining of the end, Squall's world seems like a good place to start...
1. Chapter 1

I do not own any final fantasy character (7 or 8) that is mentioned in this story, Squaresoft does, not me. 

Note: this is just before the last battle at the very end of the game, where Cloud and Sephiroth fight.  Words in bold are spells, while those in italics are thoughts.

Chapter one: The end : the beginning

It happened at the final fight, when Cloud and Sephiroth faced one another, swords raised, eyes locked, when suddenly Sephiroth smiled "You can give up the act now, Cloud, you've done well…now kill them."  

Cloud grinned, lowering his sword slightly "Sure Master, if you say so."

"Er…what's going on?" Tifa asked Barrett "Why is Cloud talking to Sephiroth?"

"I dunno" he replied confused "But more to the point why did Cloud call him Master?"

"Cloud?"  

Cloud turned and faced the Master's enemies  "…and now, traitors, you die."

"WHAT?!?!" shouted the rest of AVALANCHE, expect Vincent who preferred not to start shouting out loud at Cloud but did so in his mind.

"Cloud are you okay?  Why are you listening to Sephiroth?"  Tifa asked 

"You want to kill us?" Cait mumbled to himself, not understanding what was happening

"Yeah Cloud, what're you doing?"  Yuffie said

"Cloud only answers to me, and he is doing what any good puppet would do, obeying me" Sephiroth answered for Cloud "he has done for a while now.  Haven't you traitors noticed?"  Both Mako infused men started to laugh at AVALANCHE's stupidity, eyes glowing cruelly, "I said kill them."  Sephiroth coldly said to Cloud.  Cloud started to advance, Ultima Weapon held in both hands, he stopped in front of his ex-friends and got into his battle stance.  

"Cloud, what the hell do ya think you're doing?" asked Cid

"You're first Cait" Cloud said, facing the stuffed toy, only choosing him to be the first to die because he was defiantly a traitor, even more so than the others, if that were possible. Cloud swung up Ultima Weapon and sliced the machine in two before Cait had even had a chance to cast protect on himself.  Nuts, bolts, wires, circuits and cogs flew about the room, everything that was Cait '_expect for Reeve, but does he count as a member of AVALANCHE?'_

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the traitors shouted as the cat and his mog were sliced in half before their eyes.  The small crown rolled across the floor and stopped at Barrett's feet.

"Cloud, what have you done?!" shouted Tifa to her childhood friend

"…and now, Barrett"

"You wanna kill me, boy?" a shocked Barrett said "I'm sorry I called you a spiky-headed jerk, but come on man, you're not serious are you?"  Cloud let go of his weapon with his right hand and raised it to the one armed man, he grinned "**Ultima**!" and charged at the big man at the same time, sword held to the side to get a good sweeping blow of Barrett if Ultima didn't kill him first, it didn't. The others rushed in to help him with their own spells and weapons; a flurry of spells escaped their lips "**Mighty guard**!" "**Full cure**!" "**Fire 3**!" "**Regan**!"  But all were in vain, Barrett was dead, his head separated from the rest of his body, by Cloud's sweeping sword.  Barrett could never be returned, even by the great summon Phoenix, as the great life giving bird couldn't bring those decapitated back to life.  The task was beyond even her to bring those back who had died in ways like this, but this didn't stop Tifa from trying "**Phoenix**!" The bird appeared, Tifa, Yuffie, Cid, Red XIII, Vincent , Cait Sith and Barrett were covered in flames, they swept over the group, settling into Barrett's corpse and Cait Sith's broken machinery, nothing happened.  Tifa broke down into tears "Why?  Cloud, why?"  

Meanwhile both Cloud and Sephiroth were hit by the rest of the summon's attack, it didn't really affect either one, especially since they had HP plus materia equipped in their armour.  Tifa wept for her friends and for Cloud, '_We've been through so much together, Cloud how could you?  I thought you were our friend, maybe you really are Sephiroth's puppet, but does that mean that everything I saw while we were in the life stream was a lie?'_  So many questions, but no answers.  _'I love you'_

Red turned his head away from his mutilated friends' bodies, he looked at the blonde leader, '_Is this really Cloud?  Yes it is, his scent is still the same…but there is something different about it too…the Jenova cells are stronger, the Cloud part of him is not so strong anymore'_. "Tifa, I do not think that Cloud can hear you"

"No, no I can't, Red."  Cloud grinned rolling his glowing, blue eyes

"Erm…well…that not him Tifa."

"Well then tell me who it is if I'm not Cloud"

"…"

"Exactly"

"Cloud, don't you remember anything that we've gone through?  I thought you cared for us as much as we cared for you.  Don't you know that Sephiroth is insane?  He destroyed your home, don't let him control you again, you've fought it off before when you were about to kill Aries, you can do it again."

"I remember, but I don't care, that's the difference between us, Red."  Cloud said, choosing to ignore the last part of his little 'speech'.  

Yuffie had been staring at Barrett's body, '_there is so much blood, I've seen death before, but this is sick_".  Some had splattered into her face, '_why won't it come off?_' she thought as she repeatedly scrubbed her face with her sleeve, _'it won't come off!' _she thought more desperately, bordering on hysteria.  Over the past few months that Yuffie had been with AVALANCHE she had grown to love every member of the group as though they were family.  Cait as the funny, younger brother who she could help play tricks on people with; people like Barrett, who was like her Dad, the one she always wanted, he had practiced his parenting skills on her until he got home to his daughter, Marlene, so that he would be the best dad on Planet.  '_He'll never be coming home now, all because of that JERK Cloud, how could he do this?_'  Yuffie pulled her eyes off the body, lowered her blood-covered sleeve, and looked at Cloud with a horrified expression on her face, he looked right back at her.  "You're next Yuffie."  

Vincent and Cid immediately stepped in front of her, blocking Cloud's view of her as Tifa and Red pulled her away and started to retreat out of Creator.  

"Enough" Sephiroth calmly said to Cloud.  Cloud put the sword back onto the strong magnets attached to the back of his navy, SOLDIER top.  He took a few steps back and stood next to the silver-haired man.  "I think they know what will happen if they anger me."  He turned to face the warriors, "You are now all my prisoners, and any who disobey me will feel the cold edge of the Masamune and Ultima Weapon.  Do you understand me?"  

Cid spat out his cigarette in disgust "You expect us too just give up and hand ourselves over to you?  You're as mad as Cloud told us you were."  Cid made a hand gesture at the Mako infused men

"They wont give up without a fight." Cloud stated coolly, inside he was desperate for some more action.__

"Really?" Sephiroth said angrily "Then we'll just have to give them one, no magic, pure fighting skills, **Silence**!"  In an instant all magic was blocked, Cloud and Sephiroth charged as one into the remnants of the once mighty group, that was slowly dwindling down.  Cloud headed for Cid and Vincent, Sephiroth for the others behind the men.  Cloud skidded to a halt in front of his new 'play mates'

"Traitors" he spat 

"Cloud, I don't know what the hell is wrong with you but I'm gonna sort out your punk ass for good!"  Cid heaved up the Venus Gospel as Vincent loaded the Death Penalty.  "I knew there was something fishy about you, you're too nice and wanted to get to Sephiroth too bad to have been up to any good, I can't believe I never saw it until now."

"He's right" Vincent quietly said "There is something not quite right with you, and now we know what it is.  You really are Sephiroth's puppet."  

"You'll pay for what you did to Barrett and Cait."

Each got into their battle stance, and soon the cavern was filled with the clashing of weapons and the bang of rounds from Vincent's Death Penalty.  Cid ran up to Cloud, lance held out, ready to skewer him through the chest, Cloud easily avoided the weapon, spun around on the spot and smashed in the back of Cid's skull with the flat side of his blade.   Cid fell to the ground unconscious, blood pooling around his head. '_I thought Cid was stronger than that, oh well, maybe Vinni will be a better opponent'_.  Vincent was enraged; nobody took down a member of the group that easily without him saying anything.  AVALANCHE contained the only people on the Planet who didn't run away from him screaming "Vampire!" and for that reason alone he would stand up with them and fight, even if it was a loosing battle, '_well at least I'll get to see Lucrecia again'_ his mind thought as his body transformed into the beast that was Chaos.  Wings burst out of his back and Vincent rose slightly into the air, Cloud looked pissed off, as he now couldn't reach the Master's enemy.  

"Come down here and fight like a man!"

"ROAR!"  Vincent answered, he actually meant, "I am not a man, I am Chaos"

Cloud seemed to get the idea though; his blue eyes sparkled as he thought up a plan.  He kept still, waiting for Vincent to come down, Vincent swooped onto Cloud, ready to tear into him with his claws, but Cloud was ready and swung up the huge Ultima Weapon tearing a gash along the tender underbelly of Chaos, Chaos ripped into his left shoulder, ripping off the protective pad and slicing into the flesh beneath.  He could ignore the pain, but could Vincent?  Vincent howled in range and pain as he wobbled in his flight back up out of Cloud's range long enough for Cloud to rip a hole through the thin wings of the beast.  Cloud knew exactly were the weak spots of the enemy were, after all he had travelled with them all for quite a while.  Chaos turned back into a man, who then fell to the floor on the cavern clutching his chest that was covered in blood.  '_Please don't let it be too deep' _Cloud lifted up his sword and was about to kill another of the Master's enemies when he was suddenly flung through the air and crashed against a wall.  Dazed he looked around  "Wha…?"

"That's right, baby, Cid's back in action."  Cid had managed to get up and had jump-kicked Cloud away from Vincent.  Cloud's world spun as he tried to stand up, he failed, he tried again and once more failed.  He touched the back of his head, it was wet and sticky.  Cloud saw the ground rush up to meet him as he blacked out.

Vincent turned to Cid "I don't think we have to worry about Cloud for now, we have to help the others."

"Yeah…come on Vampi" Vincent sighed, even when they were in trouble Cid still managed to insult him, but that was his way, the only one of AVALANCHE who had the courage to call him that and stay around long enough to see how Vincent reacted.  Vincent felt into his pocket and pulled out a couple of X-potions, his last two, he handed one to Cid and together they took the potions and raced towards the two girls and Red.  

They darted towards Tifa and the others, just in time to see Red being stabbed by the evil weapon of Sephiroth: the Masamune.  The sword went straight through his body and out the other side, Yuffie thought she was gonna hurl.  Red fell, never to get up again; AVALANCHE was now down to Tifa, Yuffie, Cid and Vincent, how were they going to defeat Sephiroth?  In answer they didn't.  

In the end only Vincent was alive out of the AVALANCHE group, although badly beaten.  Kept alive in order to bring the unconscious body of Cloud onto the Highwind, and to direct the old Shin-ra employees to fly the ship to Midgar in order to see Meteor hit the Planet.  Sephiroth wasn't about to get his gloves covered with the Puppet's blood by carrying him himself.  


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:  What have I done? 

A week later: 

Cloud woke up and found himself in a warm bed, '_Where am I? What happened? I was in Crater, about to defeat Sephiroth and then…what happened? I remember facing Sephiroth…'_ Flashes of what happened passed before his eyes, Cait Sith, Barrett, dead…by his blade. Cid, lying face down in the dirt, in a pool of blood. Vincent kneeling down before him while Cloud lifted his sword overhead…

Cloud started shaking; he held his head in his hands and began to rock backwards and forwards on the bed. What had he done?

Meanwhile: 

"Cloud is still asleep, Master" Vincent said to his 'master'. Vincent had had seven days of absolute hell and agony off Sephiroth, and although he was ashamed to say so, he was shit scared of him. He had been tortured above all limits for Sephiroth's pleasure, by Sephiroth himself. He wouldn't dare call Sephiroth, Sephiroth alone out loud though, it had to be Master Sephiroth or else…His body was covered in bruises and deep gashes from the torment, this was even worse than when Hojo had got hold of him all that time ago. He shivered. Vincent was sure that Sephiroth had been particularly vicious with him because his meteor plan hadn't worked '_thank God',_ and the life stream had destroyed meteor and Midgar. It seemed that AVALANCHE had held off Sephiroth long enough for Holy to do its job. '_Why is he keeping me alive? This is hell, worse than I could ever have imagined.'_

"Good, when he wakes bring him too me, I will deal with him." 

Sephiroth looked over to Vincent, the red eyes stayed down on the ground, not even worthy of looking at him. It might have only have been a few days since Vincent had been in his grasp, but Sephiroth knew that Vincent's weakened soul was now his. It was a pity that the magnificent cells of his Mother had been injected into such a weak creature like Vincent…and Cloud too for that matter, but one had to do with what one had. Plus they kinda were like family, each with a part from Jenova inside of them, '_like brothers I guess, with the same Mother but different Fathers'_ it was fun watching them suffer, he had even released Cloud for an hour or so, consequently he would know what he had done to his friends. Sometimes mental pain was as much fun as physical, he grinned. "You may leave". _'This is going to be fun, and since Planet stopped my old plan, I'm just gonna have to find something else to occupy my time'._ He started to laugh loudly mwhahahahah! Vincent cringed visibly, Sephiroth loved it when Vincent did that, it was so…well…satisfying. 

Vincent backed slowly out of the room, once through the large, double doors he ran. Once far enough away from the evil, mad man he stopped and leaned, panting, against a wall, while staring out of an open window and into the countryside beyond. Sephiroth had made him command the Highwind to fly here, to Cosmo Canyon. The General had chosen to make Bugenhagen's old study into his base of operation. After arriving, the evil, silver-haired man had killed everyone he could find in the canyon. Why Sephiroth had chosen this place was beyond him, he wondered if it was anything to do with the study of the Planet, and Bugenhagen's own interest in how machinery and the Planet could work together in harmony. But that probably wasn't it; it was probably because Sephiroth just wanted to stay away from people so that he could have a surprise attack of some sort later on. He gazed longingly out of the window, but now he knew that he would never run, Vincent must have tried about a dozen times, his back still was raw from the last lashing Sephiroth had given him, he would've tried again if not for what Sephiroth said the last time he had finished punishing Vincent "If you run again then I will have two puppets, not just one, get the idea?" Vincent shuddered; he would NOT end up like Cloud.                   

Vincent got to the inn where he had been ordered to keep a watch of Cloud. He walked in, Cloud was awake '_Thank God, Sephiroth was starting to get angry'_. Something was wrong; Cloud was rocking back and forth on the bed, huddled into a little spiky-haired ball. "Cloud?" Cloud quickly looked up, and ran over to Vincent, catching him in a vice like bear hug.

"Vincent! I thought you were dead! I'm so glad you're alive! What happened? Where's everyone else?"

"Don't you remember?"

"I remember…"

"You killed every one!" Vincent angrily butted in, "They're all dead because of YOU!" He grabbed Cloud by the front of his top and lifted him off of his feet "How dare you act as though you don't remember! I should kill you where you stand, you dog!"

Cloud had never seen Vincent so out of control before. Cloud grabbed Vincent's arms and pulled himself up a little to stop his top from strangling him. 

"I...killed…them? I hoped I had just dreamt it. Are they all dead?" He gasped

"Apart from you and myself, yes they are."

"Even Tifa?"

"Did I not say that they were all dead? As she died she cried out, "Cloud, why?""

Cloud broke down, "I killed Tifa! How could I? I love her…" Cloud let his arms drop, it didn't really matter if Vincent strangled him now, Tifa was dead, her hero hadn't protected her; he had let her die instead.

Silence as loud as thunder rang out between them; Vincent let Cloud go in the shock of what he had just said, Cloud fell to the floor.

"I love her, how could I have let her die?" His head hung in shame and regret. 

"Well its too late now, Sephiroth slaughtered her, Yuffie and Cid and Red…you killed the others."

"I killed Cait and Barrett?"

"Yes"

"…"

Vincent let Cloud stay in his own thoughts for a while, Vincent had killed humans before, after all he had been a Turk, one of the best in fact, but he had never killed his friends, especially ones that saw you as part of their family. He had never had a real family before, well as far as he could remember, so Cloud had helped kill the only thing he had close to it, or ever would, he guessed. Cloud looked up at Vincent and sent him puzzling look, as though noticing something for the first time. 

"What?" Vincent asked

"Vincent, why are you wearing those clothes…what happened to you? I didn't do that, did I? Please say it wasn't me"

Vincent looked down at himself, Sephiroth had said that he couldn't wear his old clothes as they covered up the past week of torment that Sephiroth had put him through, it seemed like Sephiroth was one of those sick minded people who liked to see the suffering they had brought to others. He was still wearing his old pants and boots, and still had the gold claw on his left arm, but he was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt so that the gashes on his arms could be clearly seen, as well as the ones on his face. Cloak and headgear had been removed, much to Vincent's annoyance. _'Maybe Sephiroth is one of those insane people that as long as they could see suffering it doesn't matter when it was inflicted, as long as it still causes pain'_, Vincent prayed it was so. He felt vulnerable without the cloak and bandages he wore throughout the meteor quest, his weapon, Death Penalty, had been destroyed, but little did Sephiroth know that the claw was just as deadly…he was just waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Its nothing to concern yourself with, and no it was not you who did it"

"But your face…"

"I said it doesn't matter, don't mention it again." Vincent snapped

Cloud nodded, what had been happening while he was asleep? He felt so empty, so alone. He stood up glowing blue eyes meeting red.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Seven days" _'Seven days of absolute hell, I wish I were back in my coffin so I could sleep through all this' _"Sephiroth wants to see you, and it is best not to keep him waiting."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Injuries 

Together Cloud and Vincent made their way to Buganhagen's observatory, while Vincent filled Cloud in on the Crater incident, and how Sephiorth had killed everyone in the town, leaving himself to dispose of the bodies.  Cloud tried not to listen, and ignored a little voice in his head telling him that this was all his fault.  If only he had been able to fight of Sephiroth…

He had to do something to stop the sound of Vincent describing the way Yuffie had been disembowelled while trying to summon Leviathan to protect Cid.  So Cloud decided to examine Vincent, and his new look, struggling to block out both Vincent's and the little voice's voices.  If Cloud were a girl he would say that Vincent was good looking, now that his face was uncovered from those bandages he liked to wear around his head, and that cloak with the high collar was gone, but a black eye, split lip and long, scabbed up gash on his left cheek took some of his looks away.  Cloud also noted that Vincent had a limp, no weapons, materia, and most likely no items.

"Has anyone checked your wounds for infection?"  He asked

"What?" Vincent blinked at the sudden change in subject

"I think I should check out your cuts and things, I have some training in first aid, after all I was in SOLDIER."

_'What is he up to?"_  Vincent wasn't so sure that Cloud could be trusted; after all he had killed two of his friends and then tried to kill him and Cid.  But then again did you argue with someone with a sword called Ultima Weapon on their back?  Especially when you had no weapons or materia, and nothing to heal yourself with.  On the other hand Cloud seemed to be more like his old self again, was this some sort of trick?  Vincent had no choice.

"When we finish here you can take a look back in the inn, if you must."

Cloud nodded "Good" He wouldn't let the last member of AVALANCHE die while he had something to say about it.

They had arrived in Bugenhagen's observatory on top of the mountain, "Sephiroth." Cloud hissed as he saw he silver haired general standing near the four huge materia that had been gathered there.  

"Ahh Cloud, I hope Vincent filled you in on what happened last week."

"Yeah, he has, come on Vincent, lets kill this bastard!"  Cloud shouted

Vincent didn't move, he was sickened to think so but he wouldn't dare attack Sephiroth not unless Sephiroth told him to, and since that was very unlikely to happen, Vincent stayed put.

"Vincent?"  Cloud asked _'why isn't he moving?'_

Vincent shook his head and stepped back, he couldn't face another torture session with Sephiroth if Cloud and himself failed to kill him.

"Cloud, he won't fight me, and neither will you…but if you really want to, then lets dance!"  He grinned

Cloud and Sephiroth almost flew at each other in their haste to start the fight.  Sephiroth went for Cloud in an almost unending series of blows.  It was all Cloud could do to stop them from hitting him as he blocked and parted the Masamune, each blow landing closer to his skin as the last one.  Cloud lunged forward in an opening and grazed Sephiroth's arm.  This really got Sephiroth mad, no one had managed to hurt him in years.  He jumped towards Cloud and gave a mighty slash of the sword, Cloud grinned and ducked under the blade and slashed at Sephiroth's legs, Sephiroth did a back flip out of Cloud's reach before his Ultima Weapon could slice off his feet.

Cloud suddenly jumped back too, and held out his right hand "**Fire 3**!" Sephiroth dodged the magic and immediately sent off one of his own "**Slow**!" Cloud's actions immediately slowed down as he saw Sephiroth drawing closer, _'Dammit I'm dead_', but as he advanced nearer to Cloud, Sephiroth was sent sprawling across the floor as Vincent tackled him from behind _'what the heck am I doing!?!  Sephiroth's not gonna be so nice to me this time when he gets hold of me…'_

Cloud managed to shake off the slow spell in the time it took for Sephiroth to get back up and send a Blizzard 3 spell at Vincent.  The red-eyed man fell to the ground and didn't get back up, Cloud could see Vincent's chest rising and falling as he slowly breathed, at least he was still alive.  Cloud turned to face Sephiroth, who wasn't paying him any attention anymore, but was staring at the unconscious man "Maybe I wasn't hard enough on him before…but now…" Sephiroth started to laugh; he looked at Cloud and smiled, "Enough".  Cloud put the sword away, he turned back to Vincent and pointed at the body  "Pick up that, and do something with it, but keep him alive."

"Yes Master"

Cloud picked up the traitor's body, what was he supposed to do with it? '_Poor guy'_ he sighed, '_might as well take him to the inn, there are beds there' _Cloud carried the man back to the inn, _'so Master wants him alive does he__?  Well he isn't gonna survive long with wounds like this, looks like he's been kicked to hell and back and then fallen to sleep in a snow drift!'_  There was only one thing for it "**Cure 3**!" a few of the deeper cuts that had been opened by Vincent's tackle stopped bleeding as much, Cloud sighed this was gonna be a long night if he was going to heal the man fully, "**Cure 3**!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Time Materia

Sephiroth watched the puppet take Vincent out of the room, _'he's starting to break out of my control, just like what happened with Aries before I had to kill her. I never thought he would be strong enough to begin to break through so quickly though.'_  Sephiroth had noticed that when Cloud picked up Vincent, for a moment his face had showed pity, just for a fraction of a second, but that was a fraction of a second too long for his books.  _'I told Cloud to keep him alive, but I bet when I next see Vincent he'll be fully recovered.'_  He drummed his fingers idly on top of one of Bugenhagen's machines, while gazing at the huge materia gathered in front of him.  He had heard that the huge materia could forge other materia together and create an entirely new piece, Cloud had done it and had obtained a Master Magic materia, he had let Cloud keep it because the guy was so weak he needed some extra help if he ever wanted to defeat anyone strong.  Sephiroth unequipped his favourite materia, Time, and casually threw it up into the air, and caught it again.  He loved this materia; with it he could slow down enemies so that he could take his time in attacking them, or else move so quickly no one could follow his movements with their naked eyes.  

Sephiroth missed catching it after the forth throw and the materia bounced across the floor, _'if no one saw me miss such an easy catch I'd die a happy man'_, he quickly looked around, no one had seen him.  His cheeks burned a bright red as he ran over the stone floor to catch it before anyone came in.  As the Time materia reached the centre of the stone floor it stopped mid-bounce and then floated about a metre above the ground.  It had bounced between the Huge Materia that had been collected there.  

"What the…?"

The four Materia surrounding it began to glow brightly, each in a different colour, '_what's going on?_' the silver haired general jumped back to the edge of the room as bolts of green, red, blue and purple lightning darted out of the Huge Materia and into the Time materia.  

"Cool…"

_In the Inn_

Vincent woke up; his body tingled from the number of Cure spells that had been cast on him.  Next to him he could see Cloud taking a couple of Ethers, due to the loss of MP from the spells.  _'Why did Cloud cure me?  Sephiroth must have wanted me alive and kicking for whatever it is he is going to do'_

"Cloud?"

Cloud turned and looked at the man, Vincent still looked a bit weak, but he'd be okay in a couple of minutes.  

"What traitor?"

"Why did you…?  Why am I a traitor?"  He asked, changing what he was about to ask.

"You should know the story of how your ancestors were traitors to the only true race of this planet; the Centra.  Which means that you're a traitor too."

_'Wow, Cloud, that was a great explanation if ever I heard one'_.  He thought sarcastically.  But Vincent knew what he meant, how people, long, long, dead, had left the nomadic Centra, becoming lazy and stubborn, refusing to help the Ancients (the name those not of the race gave them) when it seemed like all was lost for them, many of them had died or were dying, but man had still not helped.  Sephiroth thought of himself as an Ancient, he almost was due to Hojo's experiments on him when in his mother's womb, but Sephiroth quite bluntly wasn't one, no matter what he thought.  After all Vincent had been in love with Sephiroth's real mother; Lucrecia '_and still am…'_

"But doesn't that make you a traitor too?  You are not an Ancient."

Cloud looked confused for a moment as though thinking about what the raven-haired man had said "…Shut up!"

Meanwhile 

Sephiroth watched the strangely coloured 'lightning' stop, and the Time materia fell to the ground.  He went over and picked it up, it seemed…different somehow.  It felt more powerful, it was a mastered piece of materia, but now it seemed like it had gone past that stage and gone on to be something even stronger.  He wanted to try it out _'Where's Vincent?'_

He found Cloud and Vincent arguing animatedly about each of them not being traitors, Vincent was sat up in a bed, while Cloud was stood at the side of it, _'Great, how come I get all the freaks working for me?'_

-Cough-

Cloud and Vincent immediately stopped their arguing and turned as one to face the door where Sephiorth stood.

"Er...Master, I was just...er…"  

"Shut up Cloud, get Vincent and take him outside, meet me there."  Sephiroth left the room abruptly and made his way outside and into the deserted night, rolling his eyes as he went _'Cloud has to be one of the most pathetic puppets ever, pity Zack was killed, he would have made a fantastic puppet.'_

Cloud turned to Vincent "You heard the boss, get up."  

Vincent got out of the bed and followed Cloud outside, aches and pains gone, health now fully restored.  

Sephiorth was waiting, holding a piece of materia in his hands, near to where Cloud and the rest of AVALANCHE had sat and watched a bonfire late into the night months before, when Cloud and Vincent caught up.  

"Its about time.  Vincent, stand over there."  Sephiroth pointed about 20 metres from where he stood.  Vincent complied and waited '_what is Sephiroth up to?'_  

"Now, charge at me."  

"Sorry?"

"I said to run at me!"

"Okay..." Said a confused Vincent.  He ran at the silver-haired man, '_I wonder why he's told me to do this.'_

 "**Slow**!"  Sephiroth shouted, holding out his right hand towards Vincent, the left resting on the hilt of the mighty Masamune.

Vincent stopped dead in his tracks; a bright light surrounded him, and he collapsed onto the floor, limbs twitching uncontrollably.  

"That's never happened when I've cast Slow."  Said Cloud

Sephiroth and Cloud ran up to man, he seemed to be…changing.  Vincent looked to be shrinking slightly, scars healed; his face seemed less harsh and small wrinkles on his forehead and around his eyes vanished.  After a few minutes of fascinated watching, Cloud spoke again, "Er...Master…what's going on?  Since when did casting Slow do that to people?" 

Sephiroth didn't answer, but instead stopped the Slow spell; the light around Vincent lessened and then faded away.  Arms and legs stopped their twitching as Vincent slowly got up, both Mako-infused men gasped, Vincent looked to be about 16 years old.

"What happened?"  He asked, slightly confused and disorientated, he staggered into Cloud, who pushed him away disgustedly.  

"It seems as though Slow, in this materia, no longer slows down people when it is cast, but instead goes one step further and reverses the aging process.  This could be interesting, Cloud come here, and lets see if the same thing happens to you."  Cloud held up his hands to Sephiroth, he didn't want to look like a 16 year old!

"I'd rather not, Master, I like being my age."

"You dare to defy me!?!  You're lucky I do not want to cast haste on you!" 

Cloud quickly shook his head "No, no of course not, I was just saying."  '_Anything not to have Haste cast on me.  How old would I look before he decided to stop?'_

_'What are they on about?' _Vincent thought, '_What happened?  What did that Time materia do?  I feel…strange.  Why does it always seem like I'm one step behind, without a clue to where I'm going, or to what the heck is going on?'_

"Well then, keep still"

"Yes, Sir."

"**Slow**!"

A bright light engulfed Cloud, and he too collapsed to the floor, limbs twitching madly.  Sephiroth and Vincent went over to him, '_Is this what happened to me?'_ Vincent thought curiously.  After about a minute Sephiroth stopped casting slow, "That's enough." he looked at Cloud's face as he was getting up from the stone floor, he looked about 17.  This was fun!  Who else could he 'de-age'?  

"How old do I look, Master?"  

"About 17" Said Sephiroth

"Aww man!"

"Well you're voice is like a 17 year old's." '…_and you whine like one too'_

"Is it?  I can't remember what it was like to be 17, what do I look like?"

"Why can't you remember?"

" I was in one of Hojo's experiments for about 5 years, so I missed most of my teenage years."  Cloud shrugged

"Hmmm, of course."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Fangs

_The next day:_

Cloud had gotten up early to practise his fighting skills.  He didn't know where Sephiroth had slept, but he had done so in the inn, after throwing out Vincent of course.  The thought of sleeping in the same room as that wanna-be vampire made his skin crawl.  The traitor had slept in one of the dead citizen's room.  There were plenty of spare rooms about due to the number of people Sephiroth had killed on arrival, but Cloud had preferred to sleep in the inn.  

Cloud walked outside and got into his fighting stance, is was quite warm so he was only practising in his pants and boots.  He did a few warm up exercises first, involving a few good slashes and thrusts at imaginary monsters.  His body felt weird, he hadn't been lying to Sephiroth when he said that he couldn't remember being a teenager, after all why would you want to remember being kept in an oversized test tube for five years?  Tifa had called it selective amnesia, he didn't know if that was the correct term, but it sounded right, when you forgot things on purpose because you didn't like what happened.  Cloud chuckled, sounded like his entire past, glossing over the ugly parts and painting something new over it to make it seem better.  He started practising some of his special moves, like the Omnislash, where he repeatedly slashed at his opponents from seemingly all angles.  It still needed work, but it was pretty good already, hell it was fantastic if he was going to tell the truth!

Sephiroth stood at the doorway to the item shop for a while, looking at Cloud practise his ultimate limit break, it was actually quite good, it could probably do quite a lot of damage once he had mastered it, '_but who knows how long that would take'_.  However, he was glad that it wasn't him who stood at the end of the blade in a real fight, he had a feeling that if he hadn't have stopped Cloud in crater, then his puppet would have performed that on him.  It was getting boring here, he wanted to go look at Midgar where the life stream had stopped meteor, he hadn't been able to go earlier because the area would have had high amounts of Mako in the air, which would have been very poisonous, even for him.  Sephiroth assumed it would be safe for them to go now; the life stream should have retreated completely into Planet in the last few days.  

_A few hours later:_

Sephiroth wasn't able to ride the Highwind to the destroyed city because he had locked the crew inside, and then had quite simply forgotten about them.  They hadn't been able to fly away because he had sabotaged the ship from the outside, so they had been stranded inside, with no food or water, and no escape.  The crew had all died.  Sephiroth felt like kicking himself, how could he have been so stupid?  How was he supposed to get to Midgar now?

After some searching, Sephiroth had managed to find a helicopter in the canyon, he didn't know whom it had once belonged to, or how to fly it, but he knew that Vincent knew how too.  Turks learned the basics in just about every mode of transport; he doubted that Vincent would have forgotten how to fly something like this over the years.  Now all he had to do was get the puppet and Vincent into it, and then convince Vincent to fly the thing, '_but that shouldn't be hard'_.

_An hour later:_

Vincent sat in the pilot's seat; Sephiroth and Cloud were stood behind him to make sure that he didn't do anything foolish, like crash the thing.

"We're going to Midgar, take us there as quick as you can."  Ordered Sephiroth

"Yes Master." Said Vincent coolly, who still was not at all pleased about looking like a little kid, he was the oldest one there, but now looked like the youngest!  _'Stuff like this is not supposed to happen in real life…'_

_Seven hours later, near Kalm:_

"Vincent, land about 10 kilometres due east from Kalm, we'll spend the night there before heading to Midgar in the morning."  Sephiroth said

"Will here do?"  The ex-Turk said after a while

"Yes, land here and then you and Cloud can set up camp for the night."

"Yes, Master" both Cloud and Vincent said

Vincent landed the helicopter by a thick woodland area, and then helped Cloud take out the supplies for the night.  

"Once you've finished here, go and find something for us to eat."  Sephiorth said to Cloud.

"Yes, boss," said Cloud, "Shall I take Vincent with me? He can carry anything I find in the woods back."

Sephiroth nodded.  Cloud and Vincent very quickly set up camp, after all if you've been living out on the field practically none stop for about a year, you get to know how to set up tents, and start a fire without using materia, quite easily.  

Once Cloud and Vincent had finished they headed out into the forest.  Monsters had killed most of the animals that would be good for eating, like rabbits and birds, so the teen look-a-likes had to collect fruits and berries instead.  '_I hope Master is okay with this…'_ thought Cloud, _'I wouldn't be happy if I was a near-god and had to be forced to eat this healthy rubbish.'_

Cloud and Vincent followed a mud trail through the dense woodland; it was hard to see over than a few metres to either side of them due to the closeness and width of the trees, so focused on the trail in front of them.  The vegetation also blocked out a lot of the sunlight.  But they could still see enough to collect fruit and walk without falling on their faces due to Mako-improved eyesight or razor sharp senses.  After walking for a while Cloud noticed a large fallen tree in front of the trail ahead, it was huge!  It completely covered the trail they were taking, he stopped in front of it; the trunk was about four times as wide as he was tall.  Cloud didn't think he could easily climb over the trunk, and the woods were very thick at either end of fallen tree, so they couldn't really walk around it, who knew how long it was.  _'I didn't know trees could get that big…'_

"I suppose we better turn around, there's no point in climbing over this, it'd take too long."

Vincent nodded and turned around, facing the way they had come.  Four men stood there sneering at them.  "Cloud…?"

Cloud turned around too and looked at the men.  Each was wearing plain black jeans, a brown and green camouflage type top, and dull, black boots.  How they had managed to sneak up on them was beyond Cloud, he should have heard them long before this stage.

"What do we have here then?"  Asked a large, ugly man with an axe in his belt, obviously the leader as he stood in front of the others.

"Looks to me like a couple of punk kids, Anderson."  Answered a tall, muscled, man from behind the leader, cracking his knuckles at them. 

'_Kids!_' thought Cloud, '_we're only a few years younger than them!  Oh yeah, we look like teenagers now, don't we?'_

"Look at that sword!  I could do with that!"  A man with a couple of long daggers about a foot long said, looking eagerly at Ultima Weapon on Cloud's back.  The last man, dark skinned and lanky looking, held back from the others and watched them silently from the shadows of the forest, he held no visible weapon.  

"Don't even think about it, I could destroy you where I stand, Ugly."  Said a very annoyed Cloud.  The four men laughed, like they were really afraid of a couple of teenagers!  

The Anderson was actually quite surprised that the blonde haired boy was even standing with such a huge blade on his back; it looked over a foot wide!  And was even more surprised when he easily pulled it off the magnet on his navy top and swung in round in a low arch.  "Come on men, you know the drill; kill 'em, rob 'em, and then lets get the hell outta here!" The other three men grinned, they liked it when people put up a fight when they robbed them, it made it much more fun than just a simple slaughter.  "It takes 32 muscles to frown, but only 4 to stick your middle finger up."  Cloud quoted, which was exactly what he then did.

"Get him!"

Cloud got into his fighting stance and stepped in front of Vincent '_if he dies the I gonna have to carry all this food back myself.'_  He quickly lunged at the man with the knives slicing the blades in half and the back-slashed him with the bottom edge of the blade before the man could even defend himself.  The man fell down, never to rise again '_awww, I thought this was gonna be fun_!'  Cloud turned to the other two men who had spoken, the quiet one had disappeared somewhere.  

"**Bolt 2**!"  The leader shouted at Cloud.  Cloud easily dodged the magic, not that he really needed to since he was wearing his trusty Escort Guard that nullified all lighting attacks among others.  Cloud ran up to the man as he was reaching for his axe and ran him through, instantly killing him.  He turned to fight the muscled man, but too late as a large fist collided his the side of his head.  A kick in the stomach brought Cloud to his knees, this guy was strong!  As Cloud knelt down gasping for breath, the man started to kick and stomp on Cloud repeatedly, lucky none too hard landed on his head.

"YOU KILLED THEM!  NO ONE GETS AWAY WITH THAT!  DIE YOU SPAWN OF HELL!!!!!"

Cloud somehow managed to roll away, as the man brought his leg back to deliver another kick, and sprung up onto his feet.  He wiped some blood away that was seeping from the corner of his mouth, "…and now you die..." he said calmly to the enraged man, it had been along time since another human had made him bleed, and Cloud was mad.  The martial arts man had no chance against a true sword master like Cloud, and soon the man fell down too.  Cloud felt his ribs carefully, '_are they broken?'_ they felt really sore after the kicking they had just received, he found it painful to turn around when he did so to see if Vincent was still okay.  '_At least the Mako and Jenova cells in me help to keep the pain at bay' _he thought, they worked together like a natural painkiller, helping to heal wounds quicker than an average man too, although mending broken bones would still take a while to do, he would still be able to fight, even if they were broken _'the wonders and science and nature combined'_ he thought.  Cloud looked up to Vincent, his right hand still on his chest above his ribs, the silent man had returned, and had Vincent in his grasp.  Vincent's left claw-like arm was twisted painfully behind his back, on verge of breaking; he had a revolver pointed to his head.  

"Put down your sword, son, and back a way from it." The man said.  Cloud thought for a moment about leaving Vincent behind, but something inside him wouldn't let him leave, he couldn't explain it.  Slowly he put down Ultima Weapon and took a couple of steps back.  

"Good boy." 

Cloud scowled at the man, he might only look like a 17 year old, but had the brains and strength of someone older, he would not be patronised.  "Now what your going to do is toss any valuables you have over here, once you have I'll let your buddy here go."

It looked like Cloud didn't have any options left; he dug around his pockets and threw a pouch of gil at the man.  The dark-skinned gunman loosened his grip slighty on Vincent as he looked at the ground at the gil that had spilled out.  

"There must be over four thousand gil in here!" he exclaimed.  Vincent, feeling the grip on his arm slacken slightly, quickly ducked below the barrel of the gun, swung his body around and punched the man hard in the face with his normal hand.  The man's eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he fell unconscious onto the ground.  Cloud cheered "Go Vincent!  I never knew you had it in you!" before he remembered that Vincent was the enemy…kind of, and stopped.  Vincent grinned proudly at the man/teenager, when Cloud jumped back in shock, Vincent had two long fang-like things coming out of the side of his mouth were the canines were supposed to be.  Vincent quickly understood why Cloud looked so surprised and closed his mouth, '_this is why I don't smile at people.'_  

"Come on, let's go."  Cloud quickly said and almost ran out of the forest after picking up his sword and the money he had thrown at the unconscious man.

Cloud sat by the fire, on last watch; both Sephiroth and Vincent were sleeping in nearby tents till morning.  '_How could I never have noticed that Vincent had fangs? I mean I've been with the guy for about a year now, am I that unobservant?'_  Cloud laid down on the grass and looked up at the stars scattered in the heavens above him slowing fading with the coming dawn, _'No, I don't think its that, Vincent never really ever smiles, come to think of it I think that was the first time I've ever seen him grin like that.  But then again the guy always used to wear the cape with the high collar so you could never see his mouth, well at least that's one of life's mysteries solved.  I wonder why he's like that?  Maybe its to do with Hojo experimenting on him, it could be a side affect from transforming into monsters when he uses his limit brake.'_  Little did Cloud know that he was correct, years of experimentation and turning into monsters had left its marks on Vincent, it had turned his eyes from a deep green to a bright red colour, turned his canines into fangs, improved all of his senses, stopped him from ageing and had badly mangled his left arm until he had been forced to encase it into the gold claw.  Cloud may have lost some of his memory in the experiments, but Vincent had lost himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: the beach

Sephiroth and Vincent got up as the sun rose above the trees tops, turning the campsite a light green as the light shone through the leaves.  No one had tried to rob them again during the night, so Cloud had had plenty of time to get their things together and was ready to set off as soon as the tents were packed away.  

Sephiroth stretched out and yawned, he liked camping out, yeah he liked comfy beds and having a proper roof over his head, but nothing compared to a night out under the stars.  He looked over at Cloud and Vincent, they had already taken the other two tents down and everything was packed away.  They went over to start on his tent as he moved closer to the fire and picked up a hot cup of coffee that Cloud had left out for him.  _'Wow, Cloud makes a good cup of coffee, I'm surprised.'_  He grinned.  

_Thirty minutes later:_

Sephiroth, Cloud and Vincent were hovering over Midgar in the helicopter, trying to find a safe place to land, near to where the life stream had subsided near to the centre of the city.  "Over there" Cloud said as he pointed to a wide road that had once been busy and full of cars, but now was empty and had large chunks of it ripped out.  Vincent easily landed the helicopter, Sephiroth and the two teens jumped out and made their way to the giant crater left behind by the life stream and meteor colliding.  

After about ten minutes they found the edge of the giant hole, it looked about 4 kilometres in diameter and most of the surrounding buildings were nothing but a pile of rubble.  For some reason the air started to smell of salt, as they got closer to the site of impact.  They slowly made their way to the edge and looked down, instead of an impossibly long drop down, like the one the in Northern Crater, the drop ended after about 10 meters, the ground was a soft yellow-gold colour.  "What the hell is that?"  Asked Sephiroth after watching the yellow stuff glisten.  

"I don't know" Answered Cloud

"I'd say that looks like a sandy beach down there."  Said Vincent

"A beach?"  Cloud repeated

"Yes" Vincent nodded

"How could there be a beach here?"

"Maybe when meteor and holy met, the ground around was reduced to sand due to the sheer power they unleashed."

"But that sand is yellow, if it was buildings and roads wouldn't it be grey, black and brown?"

"I suppose"

"Quite you two, I hear voices" Sephiroth said harshly.  

Sure enough after a few seconds of listening intently, two voices could be heard, a male and a female, they had very strange accents; Vincent had never heard it before.  He looked around, '_where were they coming from?_'

"Down there!" whispered Cloud looking at the sand beneath them.

They looked down, and saw two people talking beneath them, from a bird's eye view

"…told you to ask her out!  Now that Garden's back to normal she can't refuse!"

"I dunno…"

"Come on!  What do you have to loose?"

"Do you really think she'd say yes?"

"Of course, who could say no to you, Stev?"

The two people then hugged and sat down on the sand, about 5 metres in front of and 10 meters below, the onlookers.

"What do you think they meant when they said that their garden was back to normal, boss?"  Cloud whispered.

"I don't know." Sephiroth whispered back, "Maybe their house was destroyed by meteor."

"But then shouldn't they have said that their house was back to normal, not the garden?"  Cloud asked confused

Sephiroth didn't answer as the watched the two people, who seemed to be gazing at the other end of the cavern.  He looked over to where he guessed they were looking; it was just another rounded wall of the chasm…

"Cloud, get down there, find out what they're doing, bring one back who looks like they know what's going on.  You can kill the other, but don't let them escape."  Cloud nodded and looked at the 10-meter drop; he had fallen further before, chuckled as he recalled the fall from a reactor's raised pathway to a flowerbed in a run-down church.  He stepped up right to the edge of the ledge that he was on, and jumped.

After he had fallen about 5 meters, he felt a warm sensation that started at his toes, ran through his entire body, finishing at his head, it only lasted a fraction of a second as he fell.  It seemed as through he had fallen through some sort of barrier, it threw him off balance and when he landed he fell to his knees.  _'Dammit, if my ribs weren't broken before they are now.'_  He stood up gasping for breath, the broken ribs hadn't pierced a lung…yet, he had to be careful, Cloud was thankful for the pain reducing properties of Jenova and Mako.  The man and women that had been sat on the sand hadn't heard Cloud land, and so were still sat down, not facing him.  It seemed as though the sand was actually a beach, it went on in front of him for as long as he could see, to the right was the sea and the left was lush, green grass, with an empty road running through it, behind him the beach also carried on as far as he could see.  '_Where am I?'_  He glanced upwards from where he had fallen, Cloud could see the ruins of Midgar above him, Sephiroth and Vincent were looking down, it seemed as through a large window had been cut out of the sky, or that he was looking at the Planet's biggest TV.  '_What is this place? I don't recognise it from when I travelled with AVALANCHE._'  He looked at Sephiroth, he was pointing at the couple and making stabbing notions with his other arm.  Cloud grinned, he didn't know what was going on, but he had a job to do.

"Do you think that Commander Squall is going to marry Sorceress Rinoa now that Ultimecia is dead?"  Kea asked Stev

"I don't know, but its not got anything to do with us has it?"

"I suppose not, but they make such a good couple."

"Do you never stop your match making, Kea?"  The man laughed

"Not until everyone is in love with someone else, we've had too much heartache in the last year and a half, everyone needs love!"

Cloud walked up behind the couple, they were only kids on second glace, about 18, a few years older than Yuffie.  He gave them a lopsided grin; when they noticed him they would probably think that they were older than him.  He coughed to get their attention, both teenagers jumped up and spun around, _'good reflexes'_ he noted.  Cloud saw that they were both wearing similar clothes; it was probably a uniform of some sort, black pants or skirt, and a black jacket with gold edging.  Both teens looked like fighters, old before their years, Cloud wondered briefly if he looked like that.  

Upon seeing him, the boy and girl smiled, "What are you doing out her kid?  Shouldn't you be at home with your folks?" the girl, Kea, Cloud guessed, said.  So he looked like a harmless little boy did he?

"I don't know, I think I'm lost."  Cloud said trying to look innocent, big blue eyes and spiky blonde hair easily made his look harmless, he stood in "That cocky little way of his" as Tifa had once put it and scratched his head in a confused way.

"Where do you live?"

"Erm, I used to live in Midgar, but my family was killed by Meteor, and somehow I ended up here."  He lied "Where am I?"

The other two looked at each other, confusion plastered on their faces, Midgar? Meteor?  

"We've never heard of Midgar, is that a village near here?  How did a meteor destroy a village without us hearing about it?  This is a beach near Balamb."

Cloud tried not to look shocked, but failed, '_how could they not know about Midgar or meteor?  Do they live under a rock or something?'  _Cloud glanced upward, while Sephiroth and Vincent looked down at him, the ruins of a once great city surrounding them.

"No, Midgar was the place where most of the Mako reactors on Planet were."

"What are Mako reactors?"

"Look I don't have time for your games."  Cloud said as he pulled Ultima Weapon off his back, "Places to see and people to go, or is that the other way around?"

Kea and Stev looked at each other.  '_What is he talking about?'_ Kea thought.  The kid looked about their age, maybe younger, but he defiantly wasn't a SeeD, or even someone training to be one, but that sword of his was HUGE!  Kea didn't recognise the make of it, but it was defiantly some sort of broadsword.    She was surprised that the guy could even stand up with the thing, it looked really heavy.  The boy looked up into the sky again, Kea looked up too, _'what does he keep looking at?_' there was nothing to see but a few whips of clouds.  The blonde teenager lifted up his sword and got into a fighting stance, she could tell where this was going; the lad had no chance against a couple of SeeDs like them.  Kea took out a whip, while Stev unclipped a short sword from his belt.  She didn't want to beat up the little kid; he was kind of short and really cute, he had a few muscles too, which probably meant trained a bit with the sword he held _'I wonder where he came from, and where he got such a strange sword.  His accent is weird, just like his hair!' She_ felt inside of herself with her mind to see how many Cures she had stocked, 56, '_plenty'._  

Cloud cast Shield on himself and on the girl, women tended to know more than men because they liked to talk about what was happening around them, Yuffie and Tifa had never shut up once they got going.  Which meant that he'd kill the other one, Stev, and take the girl prisoner.

Kea saw the blonde fighter glow slightly as he quickly cast some sort of magic on himself and her; she felt a shield surrounding her body.  It was protect and shell, but they felt…different, more powerful but still strange, they weren't like they were supposed to be.  Kea frowned at the blonde, what was he doing?  

Cloud couldn't be bothered with a drawn out fight, plus his ribs hurt when he moved much, so simply cast Leviathan on the two.  The giant sea serpent appeared and blasted both of teens with a tidal wave of water.  The boy was blown out to sea, whilst the girl had the MBarrier part of Shield reduced to nothing.

"I didn't know that Leviathan was so strong, and you two were so weak!  What am I suppose to tell Sephiroth, I don't know if he's dead or not." Cloud said to himself, surprised the teens' strength, or rather lack of. "**Sleep**!"  He cast at the remaining teen when she turned to the sea to see where her partner had gone; she collapsed onto the floor unconscious.  Cloud scooped her up and carried her over to where Sephiroth and Vincent waited above him in the strange window-thing in the sky.  

They had managed to find a length of rope that reached down to where Cloud stood, he threw the girl over his shoulder and started the painful and slow climb up the rope.  His ribs burned in his chest as he climbed up, after about half way he felt the strange, yet warm feeling spread through his body, it was defiantly as though he was passing through some sort of barrier.

He finally reached the top where Sephiroth and Vincent helped him get over the edge of the crater and place the girl on the ground.

"There is a huge beach down there, its hot, though like Costa del Sol hot.  I didn't see any signs of civilisation apart from a long road, that although was well kept, had no vehicles on it."  Cloud reported to Sephiroth "Neither teenager knew where Midgar was, or at least pretended that they didn't.  They also didn't know what I saw talking about when I mentioned Meteor and Mako reactors."

Sephiroth looked down at the girl and then back at the part of the beach that they could see.  "Bugenhagen wrote something like this is his diary shortly before he died; he theorised that the power of Meteor and Holy colliding could cause a rift in space and time, although he said that the probability of this occurring was about 1 million to 1, there was always a chance of it happening. He didn't really explain how this could occur; apart from it being something to do with the huge amount of power gathered here, I don't believe that he really knew what he was talking about.  I imagine that this is what has happened."

"You mean that that is another planet in space?" Cloud pointed at down at the beach "Then why do I understand what they're saying?  Shouldn't they be talking another language?  Why do they look like us?"

Sephiroth shrugged, "I do not know, maybe it is another planet, maybe its our planet in the future or in its past, maybe it is another dimension.  Bugenhagen was not clear on what exactly it was, he only wrote that it could happen, and what it _could_ be."

"Well, that explains their strange clothes and accent."

"Indeed"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:  A new plan of action

Sephiroth walked over to the girl, "I don't recognise these clothes she wears"

"Her and the boy were both wearing similar stuff, I think that it's a uniform.  And from the way they acted and pulled out their weapons, I'd bet that they were from some sort of military organisation, like SOLDIER."  Cloud said

Sephiroth looked over at Cloud, "You can hardly call them boy and girl, when you look younger than them."

"I suppose, boss.  But even though I don't look like I'm over puberty, doesn't mean I can't act like I am."  

Sephiroth burst out laughing, "You have to go through it all again!"

"What do you mean again?  As I said a few days ago, I can't remember going through it before.  But at least I don't have to shave anymore!"

Vincent looked at the girl and picked her up as Sephiroth gestured him to.  She seemed to be a hardened fighter, she had a scar running up the side of her face, and looked physically powerful, she had no materia equipped that he could see, so was most likely weak with magic attacks.  Vincent followed Sephiroth, with Cloud trailing behind, as he led the way to a building that seemed to have most of it still standing after the downfall of Midgar. The building looked like it was once some sort of small food store, and was about a 10-minute walk from the crater site.  Vincent placed the girl of the floor, next to the counter.

"Leave" Sephiroth ordered

"Yes, Master."  Both Cloud and Vincent said and headed for the door

"Do not come back here, go back to the crater and keep watch, if you see anyone coming to look for her or the boy, kill them.  I will come and collect you in a couple of hours once I have the information I require from this girl."

They nodded and left the ruined building, but not before Cloud took some chocolate from the stand next to the till.

"Right then, first things first, I'll have to wake her up…" Sephiroth said to himself once they had gone.  

_2 hours later_

"It's been 2 hours now, the boss should be here in a bit."  Cloud said absently rolling out the empty chocolate wrapper into a cone shape then smoothing it back out again.

Vincent kicked another stone down the crater, he felt restless and annoyed, normally when he felt like this he would clean out one of his guns, but since he didn't have them any longer he watched Cloud polish the Ultima Weapon, and while he kicked a few stones and other bits of rubble down the hole.  Cloud hadn't even given him any of that chocolate either!  He sat down and looked over to where the building was where Sephiroth still was with the strange girl.  

Cloud finished polishing his sword and put it to one side, trying not to wince as he twisted round.  His ribs were starting to hurt really bad, he would probably have to go to hospital, or find a doctor who could fix them for him, it was a shame that Cure materia wouldn't heal broken bones.  He kept his face straight and refused to let the pain show, something that he had been taught how to do in SOLDIER.  Cloud was worried that one of the broken ribs might pierce his lungs, or some other organ.  The blond warrior scratched his right temple, '_Is there a cut here too?_' it felt like there was, but it also felt half healed, he was glad his body healed quickly.  He hoped that Sephiroth wasn't going to make him fight any more battles until he could get his ribs sorted out, but then again he hadn't seen any monsters since leaving the Northern Crater, '_strange, I wonder why_'.  Vincent had just kicked another rock down onto the beach, watching it fall, Cloud smirked, _'at least Vincent doesn't know how much pain I'm in, 'cause if he did then he wouldn't be stood here.  If he decided to run off, I couldn't chase after him to bring him back.'  _Vincent spoke up, "The boss is coming…" his ears picking up the faint footsteps of the man before Cloud could.

Sure enough Sephiroth turned around a corner just as Vincent had finished speaking.  Cloud raised an eyebrow, his hearing was way above the average person's, but Vincent's was really something else!  Sephiroth walked up to them and briefly told Cloud of what he had learnt off the girl.

"It seems as though in her world there has recently been some trouble with some women called Sorceresses, there are two known women like these in their entire world.  A man named Squall, commander of a military academy, similar to SOLDIER, like you thought, defeated a powerful Sorceress from the future called Ultimecia, along with various other people, several months ago.  Now their world is at peace, and although the countries and cities still have their petty squabbles, none have got to war with each other due to peace treaties they have all signed.  There are two military academies, although there used to be three, due to a fall in cadets and people getting too old to carry on.  Each one trains its members to be something called SeeDs, these are like mercenaries or gun for hires, they will do anything for money.  But their main reason for existence is to keep any sorceresses in check, though not many people know this."  Sephiroth said

"What is a sorceress, boss?"  Cloud asked

"The girl said  that it's someone that can cast very powerful magic, and can do so without any materia, or Drawing as they call it on their world.   The girl couldn't or wouldn't explain Drawing well, so I am not sure what this means."

Cloud nodded, "What happened to the girl I brought back?  Where is she?"

"Don't worry, you won't be seeing her again."  Sephiroth grinned

An hour later; Balamb Garden, Training Centre: 

"Squall!"

Squall sighed, why wouldn't Zell leave him alone?  "What?"  He asked, as he turned around, tropical-type trees filled the Training Area, making good hiding places for monsters to lurk in.

"Wait up man" The tattooed faced teen panted as he got nearer to his leader

"What?"  The gun blade master asked again

"Have you heard anything from the two newest SeeDs?  They're missing, I was assigned to keep an eye on them, but I've lost them!  They're called Stev and Kea, last seen heading to the beach."

"No, why are you asking me, Zell?  Quistis deals with the students, not me, you should know that."

"Well, you're the Commander, and I've looked every where!  It's liked they've just disappeared off the face of the planet!  Quistis has sent out groups to try and find them, but they've found nothing so far."  Zell let his head hang down, Squall hadn't seen Zell this upset since he had told almost the whole world that Seifer was from Garden when he was attempting to kidnap President Deling.  "I thought that they might be with you, you know training or something, now that they're SeeDs."

Squall shook his head while keeping a look out for any signs of monsters attacking while they talked, "I've not seen them since I promoted them a couple of weeks back."

Zell sighed, "It was worth a shot.  Thanks anyway, Squall.  If you see them would you contact me over the PTA system?"

Squall nodded as a Grat scuttled over to them from behind a bush, waving its limbs about in the air.

"Thanks, man."

_The next day; the Midgar Crater:_

"Since the Planet has decided not to let me control the world through meteor and the life steam, I have been contemplating on other ideas on how to achieve my goal.  Since I do not believe that there is any way to become God-like without meteor, I have decided on a new plan of action."  Sephiroth was walking back and forth along the edge of the crater, watched by Cloud and Vincent.  "This new world, that meteor has opened up, has led me to believe that I can not only have Planet, but as many planets as I want, once I find a way to access them all.  I want this new world; it sounds interesting, but it is powerful.  But not too powerful for you, Cloud.  I want you to get it for me, but I want you to do it in such a way that they don't know what's happening until it is too late.  I have a feeling that a full-scale war wouldn't be the best way to deal with this world, especially since it has SeeDs to protect it.  The peace treaty that the countries have signed sounds fragile, I believe I can use this to my advantage with careful planning.  Stealth is the way, not force…for now anyway."  Sephiroth stopped his pacing and turned to look at Cloud

Cloud nodded, "Yes, boss."

"Good, I want you to enrol in this Garden-place, and destroy them from the inside.  If you get the chance to meet any influential people, that could help to stop me from taking over once I arrive, kill them.  With you looking like a 17 year old, or younger, people will be pushed to blame you for anything, as long as you act how you look, and not act like an adult." '_As if you could, I saw you stealing that chocolate,'_  "Do you still have your PHS?"

Cloud grinned, this sounded like fun, "Yes, boss I still have it.  Want me to take Vincent?  If I ask to join with a 'friend' they might be less suspicious than if I joined on my own, and I can keep an eye on him."  Vincent frowned at Cloud, he wasn't the kid he looked like, he didn't need to be babysat, he wondered if Cloud had some hidden motive.  

"Yes, do that.  I no longer have any need for him.  I want you to go ASAP, and give me your PHS number in case I need to contact you, the window to the other world should be enough to keep the link open between the devices."

"Yes, boss."

_Two hours later:_

Cloud and Vincent were ready to go, Cloud's ribs had stopped hurting and had gone completely numb, Cloud was worried about this, but still hadn't mentioned it to anyone.  Both teens had small packs on their backs, containing only food, medical supplies, the PHS, a tent each and a compass, Cloud carried some spare materia in his pack in case he needed any other than those in his weapon and Escort Guard.  Neither had a spare change of clothes.  Cloud and Vincent had lived off less when trying to stop meteor, so felt like they were carrying too many items in their packs.  Cloud had his sword under his bag, still magnetised onto his top, but the pack was easy to slip off, so he could quickly fight any monsters coming, that is if there were any in the new world.  

"Be careful, Cloud, don't slip up.  I don't want to have to come and rescue you and give away the element of surprise.  By the way, if anyone asks, you and Vincent are brothers."

"What?!?!  Why?  I have to pretend I'm related to him?!?!  We look nothing alike!"  Cloud complained

"Yes you have to pretend to be brothers, so you can talk to each other quietly and work together without raising suspicions, you don't want me to dye your hair black to make it look more convincing do you?"

Cloud grabbed one of his blonde spikes protectively, "Hell no!"

Sephiroth laughed, "Well get going then, find the person in charge and ask to join, but I don't want you to give away how strong you are, so hold back when you fight, but not too much that they kick you out.  Got it?"

Cloud nodded

"Good.  Oh, another thing, I'd advice you not to let them take any blood samples, after all, Cloud, you have a very high amount of Mako in your blood after Hojo got his hands on you, and then you absorbed even more Mako when you fell into the life steam a few months ago, also both you have Jenova cells in your blood and body, it would be best if they didn't know about that either."

Cloud shuddered, "Right, boss."

"Vincent, do what Cloud says, or you'll answer to me.  Because if you disobey him, you're disobeying me, and you know how I don't like that.  Cloud, Vincent is disposable, your not, don't fail me"

Vincent gulped, and stepped back, and said "Yes, boss," as Cloud said "Right, boss."

"Good, now get going."

Cloud and Vincent took one last look at Midgar and jumped down the crater, landing on the soft sand beneath.  

Sephiroth watched Cloud and Vincent land, look up at him while talking, and then start to walk towards where the girl said that this Garden place was.  He hoped Cloud never woke up at 3 am while out of his range, the puppet hadn't so far, but there was always a chance.   Sephiroth didn't want Cloud awake at that time because for an hour everyday he had to let Cloud of out his control in order for Cloud to keep his sanity, he had chosen 3 am because Cloud was never awake at that time and so was unaware of his period of freedom.  Sephiroth hadn't told Cloud this in case the blonde sword master ran away or tried to kill him when he slept if he woke up at 3 am on purpose, but with them both in separate worlds there wasn't much chance of this happening.  The silver-haired man sighed, time to get started on this world, so everything was ready for when Cloud's mission was complete.  He turned and walked away from the Midgar crater, heading for the outskirts of the town, and eventually to Junon and the remains of SOLDIER.  

Cloud and Vincent landed; Cloud's ribs didn't hurt when he landed, he put a hand on his chest, it felt very hot.  He frowned at his chest, '_what was going on?'_   He turned to look at Vincent who was frowning at the sky.  "What?"  Cloud asked looking up and seeing Sephiroth's face framed by the ruined city.  

"I can not see Midgar anymore."

"Huh?  Really?"  Cloud turned to look at Vincent, then back towards the window in the sky

"Yeah, where is it?"

"Its right above us, Vincent.  Can't you see it?"

Vincent peered into the sky, his eyes narrowing to slits as he searched, "No I can't.  Maybe only someone with Mako in them can see it, I noticed that the girl you took looked up into the sky before you cast Sleep on her, if she had seen it I'm sure that she would have had some sort of reaction, but she had none.  Or else maybe its just you."

Cloud nodded, glad that Vincent couldn't see his way back to Planet, so the raven haired man couldn't abandon him and try to get back and warn others about Sephiroth.  

"Come on, let's get going."  Cloud turned and started towards the road to the north, Vincent sighed and followed him to Garden, there was no turning back now, there mission had begun.  

__________________________________________________________

Authors note:

I've had a few people telling me that parts of this fic don't make sense, if you don't get something, e-mail me and I'll explain it to you and change that part in the fic so that others can understand it better.  But if you don't tell me, then it'll carry on not making sense.

Thanks

Mako Majic


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Balamb Garden

Cloud and Vincent had been walking for about two hours, encountering no monsters, when they came to the crest of a hill, and had their first sight of Balamb Garden.  Cloud's jaw dropped, he had never seen a building so…beautiful, not including those in the City of the Ancients of course, but this was something else, this was man's beauty, not the Ancient's.  It was smooth and streamlined, with a glowing blue ring surrounding it, it was open topped, so sunlight could get into it easily, bright lights seemed to shine out of it, it glistened with power and new life, and made Cloud uneasy about whether his mission would succeed or not.  

Vincent and Cloud stopped for a break before carrying on, mainly to look at Garden rather than because they actually needed one, when Vincent spoke, "Do you think I should do something about this?" waving his claw encased arm at Cloud.

"Yeah, we don't want any uncomfortable questions asked, I'll see if we have any bandages or something, and you can pretend that its broken."

"Okay, but we had better come up with a good way to keep it hidden, because people wont believe that its broken forever."

Cloud started to rummage through his pack for the first aid kit.  Luckily there were plenty of bandages in it, Tifa sure had been prepared when she had put it together, Vincent's arm was quickly wrapped up, and was put into a sling in case anyone wondered how bulky it was compared to the other.  Cloud admired his handy work, its was good enough, for now, if they got into Garden and were there for a while they would just have to think of a better way to keep it covered, or else think of a good excuse, like that Vincent was a robot or something.  Cloud chuckled to himself causing Vincent to raise and eyebrow at him.

"Oh, Cloud before I forget, here you go."  Vincent handed Cloud something in a hard, small, flat case

"What's this?"

"Open it."

Inside was a pair of high quality sunglasses, dark enough so that not even his glowing blue eyes would be seen through it.  "What's this?" he asked again.

"When I was in the Turks, we were all issued a pair of sun glasses, it's a psychological thing, it makes people uneasy because you can not see their eyes.  That's why Rude always wears his."

"So, why've you given them to me?  I'm not a Turk."

"Because I think that it would be best if people don't see your eye's glowing like that, it would raise as many questions as this gold arm of mine."

Cloud scowled, he liked his eyes, and was as proud of them as people who had horrendous battle scars were, because in his own way, his eyes were.  But he saw the logic in what the ex-Turk said, and put them on.  The less people noticed them, the less suspicious they would be of them too.

"We better get going then."  Cloud said as he stood up, brushed off his old SOLDIER pants with his hands, and started walking toward Garden.

Cloud and Vincent had finally reached the entrance to Balamb Garden, they stopped and looked around.  Everyone seemed to be so happy, Cloud would have felt upset about how he had been ordered to bring down it down, but for some reason he was exited about joining the place, and he knew he had a job to do, he was just following orders which somehow made it seem not so bad.  A girl of about 18 walked up to them as they stood looking around at the entrance, trying to figure out what to do "Excuse me but do I know you?"  She asked in that strange accent that the people around here had.

Cloud shook his head, "No, I don't think so, we're new here.  Could you tell us who to ask about joining?"

The girl squealed and hugged the teens, "I'm so glad you want to join, after the Ultimecia battle, its been really hard to recruit new members into any Garden, especially ours!  Galbadia had to shut down and all of the students moved to Trabia Garden because of lack of students!  We've always had the most young students here, a lot of the students got promoted to SeeD after the war so we have few people training, and most of them are still young, so its okay here for now, but in a few years when they get too old….  What happened to your arm?"

Cloud and Vincent exchanged looks; they had no idea what she was on about, nor understood most of what she said, she talked really fast.  

"It got broken a few days ago." Vincent said sharply as though he didn't want to talk about it.

"Erm…so who do we talk to?"  Cloud said, fingering the silence materia on his Escort Guard unconsciously like he did when Yuffie had talked to him.  

"Talk to Quistis, I mean Miss Trepe, she's in charge of all student related matters, seeing as Headmaster Cid has left and isn't coming back.  I'll show you the way, come on."

The hyper-girl started to skip away, and into the main Garden building.  Cloud and Vincent followed, jogging in order to keep up with her.  She suddenly stopped in front of an elevator. "Oh, I didn't tell you my name, its Selphie."  She looked at them, as though expecting some sort of response and frowned when she received none apart from a short, polite introduction from Cloud.

"Hi Selphie, I'm Cloud, this is Vincent."

"Cloud?"  She laughed, "What sort of name is that?  Are you a hippie or was your head always in the clouds when you were a kid?"

Cloud scowled at the girl, he didn't like her, _no one_ made fun of his name and got away with it.

"Never mind, come on, if you get into this elevator, go to the second floor, walk to the end of the bridge, go right when you reach the corridor, and go into the first classroom on your left, Miss Trepe should be in there now, just finishing her lesson.  Bye now!"  She left Cloud and Vincent and went off skipping around the large water feature in the centre of the building.

"Hippie…" Vincent snorted

"Shut up!" Cloud snapped at him, as they got into the elevator.

They reached the classroom, and stood by the door listening, a blonde woman was talking about something called GFs, and how they made you forget some of your earlier memories.  Vincent wondered what they were, he hadn't heard of these GF things before, '_Is is some kind of drug?'_  A bell rang and the women dismissed the class.   As the students passed Cloud and Vincent they pointed and sniggered at them, especially Cloud, they had never seen such strange clothes, and hair before.  Cloud didn't notice them looking as he walked into the classroom, once the last student had left.

"Excuse me, but are you Miss Trepe?"  Cloud asked politely to the women behind a desk at the front of the room.

"Yes I am.  What can I do for you?"  The tall blonde had a whip by her side, and looked as though she knew how to use it, _'but still, she must be pretty weak if she has to use a whip as a weapon instead of something stronger, maybe she's strong in magic and has a high MP level.'_ Cloud thought. 

"Me and Vincent here want to join Garden."  Cloud said bluntly, still angry with the 'hippie' incident. 

"You do?  That's great!  Its about time people stared to want to join again, I thought we'd scared off any potential candets over the last few years."  Miss Trepe said, "Have you spoken to anyone about this yet?"

Both teens shock their heads, wondering what had happened to scare off any new students, "No, but a girl called Selphie told us to come and find you, she directed us to come here."

"Good, but may I ask why do you want to join?  Especially after what's been happening over the last few years."  The woman looked puzzled and curious at the same time.

Vincent answered the question with the first thing that came to mind, while Cloud racked his brains for an answer, "We want to become strong, and make our Mother proud."

Cloud shot a glance at him, _'WHAT!?! Our mother?'_

Miss Trepe seemed to accept this lie and smiled kindly at them, "Well you're not too old to start to learn, but I'm surprised that you're brothers, you don't look anything alike."

"We're half brothers, we have different fathers."  Cloud quickly said, not trusting what Vincent might say

"Come on, my office is just at the other end of this corridor, if you want to join at this exact moment you have to fill in some forms, and then pass an interview with the Commander. We should be able to tell you by tonight if you've got in or not, that is if we start now."

"Okay, we're not doing anything, we can fill them in now."

"Great, that's the attitude we like here, I'll inform Squall that you both will need to be interviewed by him in about an hour."

_An hour later:_

Cloud and Vincent were being escorted to the basement, where the Commander's office was.  This man, they had learned, had killed some Sorceress from the future, that the girl Cloud had kidnapped had told Sephiroth, she had been very powerful and wanted to do something called time compression, Cloud hadn't really listened, it had sounded boring and complicated, but obviously this Squall-guy was someone to keep and eye on.  This Sorecress didn't sound as strong as Sephiroth though.  Their packs had been left in Instructor Trepe's office.  They stepped out of the elevator and followed the blonde woman down a corridor, it looked a lot newer than the rest of the building, and smelt like it had been painted only a few months ago, to his nose anyway, to others it wouldn't smell at all, he guessed.  

"Just here, door number B16.  Go in, introduce yourselves, and be honest.  Good luck!"

She knocked and opened a door on the right, not waiting for a reply, holding it wide enough for both teens to talk through.  She closed it behind them, leaving them alone.  

Vincent looked around, the room was plain, a large oak desk sat in the centre of the room, with two chairs facing it, and one behind.  There was a large matching cupboard and a bookshelf, on the desk sat piles of books and paper work, along with a computer.  Another door was to the left of the room, and there were no windows.  He walked over to one of the seats opposite the desk and sat down, this Commander Squall obviously hadn't got there yet.  

Cloud took his time, before sitting down, and admired a strange weapon that was displayed on the right wall, it looked like a half sword-half gun, underneath it was a small plaque saying simply 'Gunblade', he guessed that was what it was called.  Cloud took it down, "Hey, are so sure you should be doing that?"  Vincent asked warily watching him, Cloud looked up at him from the study of the weapon, he pointed it at Vincent.

"Bang!"

Vincent turned away and looked at the door on the other side of the room.  Cloud shrugged and put the strange weapon back on the wall, and then took off his sword so that he could sit properly on the other chair in front of the desk, and together they waited for the Commander to come in.    

Squall ran down the hallway, he looked at his watch; he was late, really late.  He hoped that the two people he was supposed to interview were still there.  He had got carried away training with Rinoa and lost track of time.  He skidded around a corner, almost falling over and slammed against a wall, knocking the papers out of someone arms as they jumped back to avoid him.  He carried on running once balanced, shouting "Sorry!" over his shoulder to the SeeD, he opened a door on his right, it led to Xu's office, ran through to the door on the other side of the room, through to another office that was painted pink and smelt of flowers, through the door there, and into his own.

The door slammed behind him, as he calmly walked to his desk, trying not to breath heavily and rub his shoulder where it hit the wall.  "I'm sorry I'm late.  So, I hear you two want to join Garden."  He stated as he sat down on his favourite chair behind the desk, trying to act professional. 

"Yes, Commander we are."

Squall winced, how many times had he told people not to call him that?  He looked up to examine the two people he was supposed to be interviewing.  One of his left was short; with long black hair and red eyes, he looked about 16, maybe younger, and seemed to have a broken left arm '_I wonder why he hasn't healed it with a Curaga yet'_.  The other was a bit taller and older, with impossibly spiky blonde hair and dark sunglasses on.  Both teens were wearing strange clothes, and whichever had just spoken did so in a strange way, he had an accent that he hadn't heard before, he didn't think he had anyway.  The blonde had a huge sword propped up against the chair, Squall was surprised, not many people used broadswords this day and age, no one in Balamb Garden used one, preferring short or long swords, or even a gunblade, which had become increasingly popular with the younger students in the past few years.  

"Please, call me Squall, not Commander."

Cloud raised an eyebrow, if the Commander didn't even want to be called by his title, then this place was certainly lax in discipline.  When Sephiroth was the one and only General for SOLDIER, he had made sure everyone had called him General or Sir.  Cloud composed his face and carried on with the interview.  Maybe Squall was younger than he acted, he only looked about 19 on second glance.

"Okay, Squall."

"So, what are your names?"

"I'm Cloud and this is Vincent."

"And your last names?"

"Valentine" Vincent quickly put in, Cloud looked at him, trying not to glare and shout out loud that he would never be called Cloud Valentine, but Squall had nodded accepting the name, it was too late.  In his head Cloud groaned.

"So Cloud and Vincent Valentine," Squall hesitated a moment before carrying on "are you family, or…are you married?"

"We're brothers."  Vincent quickly said, shocked that the man could think that, while Cloud hid his face in his hands in further embarrassment.

"Okay." Squall sounded relieved and embarrassed about having asked the question, but it had to be asked whenever two people came in with the same last name, especially when they looked so different from each other.

"Have you filled in all of the entry forms with Qusitis Trepe?"

"Yes, Sir.  They are all complete." 

"Good, do you know anything about garden?"

"Not much" Vincent confessed

"Well, if we decide to let you in someone can fill you in on it all, we don't really have time for that now.  Have you had any training in weapons or fighting skills?"

"I can use broadswords, while Vincent prefers to uses guns, especially sniper rifles." Cloud answered, trying to make it seem like they weren't all that good at using the weapons, "We both also have other basic training in weapons like spears, staffs, shurikens and know basic fist fighting and first aid too" He continued thinking back to the long nights when on the meteor quest, when every night a different member of the group would try teach the others some of their skills.  He was quite good with the spear, guns and fist fighting, but was hopeless using the staff and shuriken.  Vincent couldn't use anything that wasn't gun related, apart from fist fighting, and neither teen could use one of Cait Sith's megaphones or Red XIII's hair clips, and so he didn't bother to mention them.  Thinking about it, no one had been able to use the megaphones or hairclips apart from Cait and Red.  

Squall was surprised at the range of weapons that they had been trained with, in Garden a person always stuck to the first weapon they got hold of, they rarely changed weapons from cadet to SeeD.  'T_hey must have lived in a city like Galbadia, or maybe one of the smaller villages where they had to protect themselves and the villagers from monsters while growing up, that would explain the range of weapons that they can use and their unusual accents.  Unless they're lying to get in, of course, and in a few weeks we find out that they can't use anything that they said they could.  Maybe Cloud could learn to use the gunblade if he likes swords and can use guns; once he's had some training I might actually have a decent opponent, he looks like a sword man.  Irvine would be happy if I let Vincent in, especially if he can use sniper rifles, especially since he's still the only sniper here.'_   

Squall continued the interview for another hour.  He decided that he liked them, but both were carefully hiding something, he could tell, all in all, however, he thought that they would be a good asset for Garden, once trained, and decided to let them join if their paper work was correct.  "Right then, someone will inform you of our decision, to let you join or not, by tonight at 2000 hours.  You may stay in Garden until then or leave and come back later."  Squall stood up and shook their hands while they thanked him for taking the time to interview them, and left.

Cloud attached Ultima Weapon back onto his back and left the room, not bothering to check that Vincent was following.  Squall seemed like a decent bloke, but was obviously no match for him, the teen obviously couldn't even decide if he wanted to use a gun or a sword so instead chose half and half.  Cloud frowned as he walked down the corridor with Vincent walking a step behind, '_I can't believe he asked us if we were married!'_  He glanced over he shoulder at Vincent and shuddered, _'Like I would!'_

Vincent followed Cloud out of the room, wondering why Cloud had told Squall about the weapons that they could use, it seemed like a strange thing to do.  If Cloud and him had swapped places, he would have said that he had no training in anything but first aid…Cloud must have known that by admitting that Vincent could use a weapon that he would eventually be given one.  Vincent carried on walking, lost in thought, tailing Cloud.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:  Waiting

Cloud reached the elevator, and pressed the button to call it down.  As he waited a blonde teen came up the corridor towards them having exited one of the other rooms there, he looked upset, but then again Cloud would be upset if he had a tattoo like that on the side of his face.  The blonde teen came up behind Vincent, he wasn't looking where he was going and walked straight into the vampire wanna-be, knocking both of them over and onto the floor.  Cloud burst out laughing as they tried to pick themselves up from a tangle of arms and legs.

"Sorry, man, didn't see you there."  The tattooed face blonde said as he sat on Vincent's hair stopping him from being able to move his head, while his right leg pinned Vincent's head and right shoulder to the floor.

Vincent muttered something in response that made Cloud glad that the other man didn't have as good hearing as Cloud had, else a fight would have broken out there on the floor, he hadn't know that Vincent had such a…colourful vocabulary.   

"Did you say something?"

"I said get the hell off my hair!"  Vincent shouted, not able to get him off with one arm pinned down and the other in a sling

"Sorry" He got up off Vincent and helped the ex-Turk to his feet, then cleaned his right hand on his shorts, inspected it, then held it out to Vincent for him to shake.

Vincent rubbed his head angrily and turned his back on the teen, '_Is this whole place full of teenagers?'  _Cloud wondered briefly as he watched them laughing.  The teen shrugged, looked at Cloud instead and held out his hand again, Cloud took it, the guy looked amazed that he had.

"Hi, I'm Zell, and you two must be the new guys that everyone's talking about.  Can you tell him I'm sorry?"  The tattoo man said pointing at Vincent's back

"Hi Zell, I'm Cloud and this is Vincent, I don't think he'll listen to me."

"Oh."

Cloud laughed again at the guy, he liked Zell, especially now that he had sat on Vincent and messed up his hair, Vincent was very touchy about his hair, even more so than Cloud was.  The last time someone had messed it up, he had gone ballistic, then again anyone would do if you went to sleep looking like normal and then woke up with a multitude of plaits and pink beads, courtesy of Yuffie and Tifa.  

"On the way here did you happen to see anyone?"  Zell said suddenly changing the subject

"We met Miss Trepe and Selphie, and Squall.  Why?"

"I mean when you were on your way here.  I've lost the two students that I've been assigned to."  He noticed Cloud's blank look and so explained  "Every SeeD had a couple of students or more to keep an eye on and help train, it was Squall's idea to help the students to become as good as they can be with experts to give them personal training in pairs or small groups.  When you join Garden a SeeD will be assigned to keep an eye on you, to train you, keep you outta trouble, just to be there, ya know?  There are a few SeeDs without anyone assigned to them, Squall for one, Xu, Quistis and Rinoa too, they've got too much going on to train cadets properly."  

Cloud nodded_, 'this could be a problem when I'm carrying out the boss's mission if we're being constantly being watched over'_.

"Well, if you see anyone called Kea or Stev, come tell me, 'cause I've lost them, they're new SeeDs.  Quistis thinks that they've eloped, but I know them and I don't think they did.  No one expects them to come back."  He continued as though talking to himself.  

"If we hear anything we'll tell you."  Cloud said, knowing that neither would return because one was dead on Planet, and the other was drowned at sea if Leviathan hadn't killed him first.  "I'm sure they're okay."  Cloud struggled to keep his face looking concerned, and not pleased, especially when Vincent looked at him curiously with an eyebrow raised.  The elevator pinged as it arrived, giving him a chance to turn his back on Zell as he got in, and tried to compose himself.  

"So…what are you doing now?"  Asked Zell as he hit the button for the ground floor

"I don't know, we've gotta hang about until 8 pm tonight to find out if we're in or not."

"Well do you wanna get something to eat?  They do really good hot dogs here; if we hurry they might be serving them now.  I'm going to the cafeteria anyway so you're both welcome to join me."

"Sure, but what are hot dogs?"

The trio slowly made their way to the cafeteria as Zell explained about hot dogs, but Cloud wasn't really interested once he found out that they weren't real dogs.  He was itching for a fight, and wanted a go in this Training Centre that Squall had mentioned in the interview while explaining what was in Garden.  As soon as they'd eaten he was going to go try the place out.  They walked around the large fountain in the centre of Garden; Zell was pointed out what was down each corridor and a few people that he knew.  

"That's Rinoa, she's Squall's girlfriend, and that's Quistis she's talking to, she's the one who you'd have filled in forms with.  That's the library girl with a pony tail, I don't know her name…" Cloud tuned him out and looked around him, everyone here was just a kid, he saw a few adults, and some children, but most people were teenagers.  It looked like the mighty SeeD force wasn't that mighty after all, _'but then again look at me, I only look like a kid too, not much older than Yuffie and what a pain in the ass she was'_.  

They got to the cafeteria, Cloud and Vincent sat down on a table by themselves while Zell got the food.  

"What do you think of this place?"  Vincent asked Cloud

Cloud frowned at him, not wanting to make small talk with the sniper, but decided to answer anyway, "I don't think that we'll have much trouble carrying out the boss's mission.  Everyone is really weak here, I could take them all on."  Cloud said confidently, "The strongest guy here seems to be Squall, I wanna test his skills, but the boss said we need to be careful, so I don't know how I'm going to do that without giving away my strength."

Vincent nodded, "Don't get all mad or excited and start fighting like you normally do, 'cause if they realise what we're doing they won't be happy, and they'd get suspicious if they see how strong we are."

"Think I don't know that?"

"Know what?"  Asked Zell who had made his way over with the food without either of them noticing.  

"Erm…know that milk chocolate is better without nuts or raisins in."

"Nah, I like fruit and nut chocolate, but its hard to get around here, you can only get it in a few places, so I'd eat what I can get."  Cloud frankly couldn't care less about Zell's chocolate preferences, but at least he hadn't heard what they were talking about, for Zell's sake he better not have.

"Nice sunglasses, Cloud."  Zell commented

Cloud had forgotten that they were there, "Thanks, nice...er…tattoo."

Zell grinned, "Really?  Most people don't like it, Seifer used to say it looks like someone threw something at me and I forgot to wipe it off."  Cloud looked at Zell's face, he could see where this Seifer guy was coming from, whoever he was, it did look like someone had thrown a handful of mud at him.  It must be boring in this place if all everyone did was eat hotdogs and chocolate and comment on each other's tattoos.  

_1900 hours:_

Cloud and Vincent had finally got away from the many people wanting to congratulate them on joining, no matter how many times Cloud had pointed out that they hadn't been told they had got in, people just assumed that they had.  A few people had commented on Vincent's 'broken' arm, but had been put off from any more questions when Vincent had looked at them with his red eyes and said coldly "I don't want to talk about it".  

They had reached the Training Centre; it seemed to be empty of people apart from Cloud and Vincent.  Cloud sighed with relief, he was sick of the happy people in Garden, after the depressing people of Planet it just seemed wrong to have so many cheerful people, it was like some sort of creepy dream, '_maybe this is what Planet would be like is the boss had failed and been killed'._  Cloud had reclaimed their packs off the blonde instructor and placed his on the floor of the Centre next to Vincent, who was sat on the floor waiting for Cloud to start practicing his sword skills while keeping an eye out for anyone who might come across them unnoticed.  

Squall stood behind a tree in the Training Centre, he had heard some monsters approaching and so had decided to ambush them, but instead found the two brothers that were wanting to join, _'what were their names?  Oh yeah, Cloud and Vincent Valentine.'_  He decided to watch them for a bit because Cloud seemed to be getting ready to practice his skills, and Squall wanted to know what he was like and how strong he really was.  

Cloud handed Vincent the sunglasses, he didn't want to train with them on, as they would hinder his eyesight.  Cloud blinked with the brightness of the area without the glasses on, his eyes glowed brightly with Mako as they got used to the sudden light.  He swung Ultima Weapon from his back and stopped it in front of him as he got into his fighting stance when a Grat sprung out of one of the bushes.  Cloud had never seen one of these monsters before, but that didn't make him hesitate when he saw it start to attack.  Cloud lashed out with sword as it tried to hit him with one of its tentacles, the sword easily cut it off before it stuck him.  He ran to the monster and swung his blade low, cutting off its legs on the left side, the Gnat screeched and fell onto its side.  Cloud walked over to the wildly thrashing monster and plunged his sword into its chest where he guessed the heart would be.  The monster stopped its thrashing and laid limply on the floor.  Cloud looked around to see if it had dropped anything, and discovered some sleeping powder, he threw it over to Vincent as the monster's body slowly faded away, he had never discovered why they did that, only monster's bodies faded away, human's and animal's didn't, the world was a strange place, and the monsters here were easy to kill.

Squall closed his gaping mouth; Cloud had killed the Gnat as if it were nothing.  He had never seen anyone handle one as easy as that before, baring him and his SeeD group.  Cloud wasn't all he seemed to be.  

Cloud turned around as he heard a noise, this time two Gnats jumped out from behind a bush, Vincent knew that Cloud could handle two of these weak monsters, so stayed put on the ground.  The ex-Turk fingered the packet of sleeping powder, an idea forming in the back of his mind, he smiled and put it into his pocket, not the backpacks.  

Cloud lunged at the first Gnat, before either attacked, cleanly sweeping off its head.  Killing it with the one blow.  He turned to the second one, as the first faded away, a stray tentacle hit Cloud in the chest, as it decided to run away rather than stay and fight.  Cloud yelled in pain as it connected with his broken ribs.  He fell to the ground clutching his chest, gasping in pain, while ignoring the threat above him as the Gnat realised that it could actually defeat the human and stopped its attempt to flee the battle.  

Vincent jumped up and ran over to Cloud, when he realised that Cloud wasn't faking, he clawed the Gnat with his left hand, tearing through the bandages covering the claw part of his arm, and the monster's face.  He leapt again at the Gnat, and tore an artery in its neck; it fell to the floor, screeching in pain and blood loss.  He felt Chaos rising within him, but he pushed it ruthlessly down, now was not the time for one of his transformations.  

Vincent ran over to Cloud, he was unconscious. He had no idea what was wrong with the blonde sword master.  Vincent checked to see if he was breathing, he seemed to be okay, '_so why had he yelled like that when that monster hit him? I defeated it easily enough._'  A man came running out from behind a tree, as Vincent leaned back from checking Cloud, it was Commander Squall.   Vincent hastily hid his left arm behind his back to stop him from seeing it.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, but we need to do something.  Something is really wrong."

"We need to take him to the Infirmary ASAP."

Vincent nodded and picked up Cloud, hanging him over his shoulder, hoping that it wouldn't make him worse, Squall picked up the weapons and packs and hurriedly led the way out of the Training Centre and towards the Infirmary.  

_Authors note:_

This chapter is dedicated to all my fans, especially Langley, who keeps hassling me to write more (although he hasn't reviewed yet, hint hint hint) ^_^ 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:  We're in!

Vincent stood by the bed, Cloud had been lying there for a few hours now, his face was drawn and pale, Vincent could see his eyes moving rapidly behind the lids as though having a nightmare, something that he knew a lot about.  The nurse had said that he had had some broken ribs, and they had been slowly grating on his organs.  It would have been life threatening if the Gnat hadn't have hit him and caused Cloud some serious pain that he just couldn't ignore anymore having caused a rib to puncture one of his organs.  Vincent wasn't sure which one; he was too worried about Cloud to listen to the technicalities.  The doctor and a dark haired girl, called Rinoa, had healed Cloud, it seemed that the cure and other healing materia (or whatever it was that they used here) were more powerful than their materia or potions.  Even though Cloud was Sephiroth's puppet, he had travelled with the man for months, and after Cloud had awaken him from his nightmares in the coffin, Vincent was indebted to him, whether the blonde man/boy knew it or not.  He wouldn't let Cloud die; he'd just have to sort out the matter of the mission later, but he would protect Cloud and make sure that he healed properly, he owed him that at least.   He hoped that away from Sephiroth's influence the real Cloud would return, it hadn't even been a day yet, there was still time.

Squall walked into the Infirmary, Vincent was still there, looking over his blonde brother.  "You okay?"

Vincent yawned and nodded his head

"When's he coming 'round?"

The raven haired boy shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, the Doctor says that he should be awake by tomorrow morning, but I'd say its more likely he'll wake up in a hour or so."  Vincent tried to suppress a shiver, as he thought of the women in the white coat, doctors and other people in white coats freaked in out, properly because Hojo and the other scientists that had worked on him had worn them.  

"Why do you think that?"

He shrugged again.

'_What's his problem? He's really stuck up; maybe he thinks he's better than the rest of us, we're not good enough for him to talk to.  Then again maybe he's just worried, I'm sure I'd be if I had a brother who had just been healed from such an injury'  _

Squall looked at the boy, he was only a few years younger than him according to the paper's he had filled in; he looked younger, but acted older and colder than was normal for a kid his age.  Life was strange, the boy acted just like he did only a year or so ago.  Squall left the room, deciding to tell Vincent that they were both welcome to join Garden whenever they wanted to later.  He'd left them rest for now and tell the brothers in the morning, and he'd ask them about their real training, because no one could get that strong without help.  He walked out of the Infirmary, and decided to find Rinoa.

_The next morning:_

Vincent woke up, his head had been resting awkwardly on the bed and a blanket covered his body, he rubbed his neck trying to work a crick out of it, Cloud had gone.  He jumped up out of the chair, and quickly searched the Infirmary…he wasn't there.  Vincent ran out of the room, starting to panic slightly, but kept his face calm, as he got to the end of the corridor he started to walk, trying to keep to an even pace, not wanting to seem to be worried or in a rush.  A few bandages were still clinging to his left arm, he tied them round his arm and put in hand in his pocket to hide to golden claw from anyone looking, it was lucky that only the bits around where his hand would be had been damaged. He quickly inspected it, it looked good enough for now; he hoped no one had noticed it while he had slept.  He walked around the fountain anticlockwise, ignoring those who called out to him in his haste.  Cloud wasn't in the entrance, Library, Training Centre or Garage, he walked down the corridor to the Cafeteria, _'I should really have looked here first knowing Cloud_' he saw Cloud sitting at a table at the back of the room, with Zell and Squall, each eating a hot dog.  

"Cloud!" Vincent said louder than he intended to, causing a few startled glances in his direction.  Cloud looked up at the sound of his name, Vincent noticed that Cloud had remembered to wear the sunglasses he had given him.  He was mildly surprised, sometimes Cloud had a memory like a sieve when it came to things like that. 

"What?" Cloud glared, as Vincent got nearer to the table

"You feeling better?"

"Obviously"

"Erm…well…good.  What happened with that Gnat?"

"That's none of your business."

"Cloud, you shouldn't be so rude to your brother" A voice behind Vincent said, it was Instructor Trepe his nose told him, having recognised her scent.  To others Cloud's expression was blank, but to Vincent's keen eyes he was frowning slightly in rage, probably because he had never liked people giving him orders, well apart from Sephiroth that was.  Vincent never figured out why Cloud had joined SOLDIER and then become a mercenary if he hated authority so much.  

"Quistis, you alright?"  Asked Zell 

"Yes, you?"

"I'm okay." He said, he got up and started to shadow box to prove it, with half a hot dog hanging out of his mouth

"Are you eating hot dogs for breakfast?"

"Yep"

"You guys are sick" Zell and Squall smiled at her "Which, remind me, you okay Cloud?  Are you sure you should be up?"

"I'm fine, healed completely." He rapped his ribs with his fists in an ape-like manner, '_good old Mako and its brilliant healing properties'_

"I'm not surprised, Rinoa used Curaga on you, and she's the most powerful magic user in any Garden.  Zell, stop it and sit down, your spraying us all with hotdog."

"Well, now that we're all here, we've got something to tell you two."  Squall said to Cloud and Vincent, as Zell grudgingly sat down "We have decided to accepted you both into Garden.  Depending on you both working hard, we'd be proud to have you." Squall held out his hand formally for them to shake, and thus seal the deal.

"Great, thanks."  Cloud said, taking his hand

_'What? That's it?_' thought Squall, '_I would've thought they'd have had more enthusiasm than that, if anything Vincent looks nervous, but that's not shocking a lot of people are nervous when they first join.'  _

"Yes, thank you for letting us join."  Vincent shook Squall's hand next, Squall was more than a little confused, each of their words showed one emotion, while their gestures and faces showed another, he couldn't tell if the brothers were really pleased or not about joining. 

"Now that you're in Garden, you both have rooms here, though they are double rooms, so you will have to share, but not with each other.  We've found that when we put family members together it can lead to a mini war."  The three SeeDs chuckled as they remembered two sisters who had been put together a few years ago, they had to be separated after it was discovered some of the pranks they had 'played' on each other, ranging from monster slime in boots to chunks of hair being shaved off in their sleep.  "So you'll both be put with other cadets, and have a SeeD assigned to you both to help train you."

Vincent finally sat down on a chair between Miss Trepe and Zell, and looked at Cloud out of the corner of his eye, to find that Cloud was looking back at him too.

"Which brings me to the matter of Zell, seeing as his previous two charges eloped a few days ago, he will be your new trainer."

"OH YEAH!"  Zell shouted, banging back his chair as he jumped up, wildly punching the air.

"I didn't know you loved us that much," Cloud calmly said, "should we be scared?"

Zell sat back down blushing, "Sorry"

Everyone, bar Vincent who did so on the inside, started to laugh as though they had all been friends for years rather than less than a day.  Somewhere deep inside Cloud a voice quietly told him that this group was like AVALANCHE, friends and family in one, and silently wept.  

The next day 

Cloud woke up with a start in his new room, as a person sat heavily on his newly mended chest.  

"Oy, get the heck off me, Tifa, I'm trying to sleep here!"

"Hmm…who's Tifa then?"

Cloud opened an eye and looked at the person making a seat out of him, he was about 15, short, with gelled up black hair and specialised in magic, or so he said, Cloud hadn't seen any materia on him, then again he'd only met the guy the night before "Erm…no one, Douse."

"…fine then, be like that."

Cloud sat up as the boy left the room in a huff and went into his own with a slammed door, as if Cloud had taken away some sort of great privilege of his, '_What's his problem? I don't even know the guy.'_  Faint morning light shone in through the window.  The room was much better than the one he had shared while training in SOLDIER.  It had a bed, wardrobe, shelves, desk, chair and bedside cabinet, it even had a carpet, it was a soft person's room all in all, not the hardened, white washed room that he had grown up in.  

Cloud looked at his watch, it was 5.15 am, he sighed '_Might as well get dressed and get something to eat seeing as I'm up_'.  He got out of bed and got dressed; being careful to make sure that the ever-present bandage on his arm was tied up tightly before putting on his gloves and Escort Guard.  Cloud looked at himself in the mirror before putting on the Turk sunglasses, his hair looked like it normally did; spiky, but his clothes were getting a bit tatty…and smelly, he needed to get some more.  Cloud touched his face, he hadn't really seen it since Sephiroth used that faulty Time materia on him, he looked so young, Cloud hadn't seen his face between the ages of 16 to 21, it was going to take some getting used to.  Cloud quickly turned away and put on his shoulder pad and Ultima Weapon, with the hilt sticking up over his shoulder like normal, he didn't like what he had seen in that mirror.  

Cloud left the double room while equipping his material, more out of habit than out of need, and made his way to the Cafeteria, but it was closed.  He wandered around the building for a bit before realising that he was the only one up and that the Training Centre was the only thing still open, so he headed out for a bit of a work out.    

Vincent woke up when the little patch of sunlight in his room moved to across his face.  '_What time is it?'_  Vincent looked at the clock on his desk; it was a little after 6.20 am, he sighed and decided to get up.  He had always been an early riser, but this was later than he normally woke up.  He, as a rule, saw the sun rise each morning, something that he and Lucrecia had done together every morning, that was before Hojo had shot him so long ago and she had left his life forever.  The boy in the room next to his had wanted to talk all night, wanting to get to know the ex-Turk, Vincent had finally thrown him out at about 2 am when he couldn't take it anymore.  His body ached for more sleep, he had forgotten how much sleep 16 year-old body needed, but routine made him get up.  He quietly got dressed and brushed his hair, then made his way out of the dorms and walked around for a while, having remembering Turk rule number 3; 'Always know your terrain'.  There were a few people about, each wearing a uniform or some of those strange clothes he had never seen before.  Vincent touched his white shirt absently, he really needed more clothes, he felt exposed wearing it, with its short sleeves and flimsily material.  He didn't like wearing the same clothes every day, but then again he had worn the same burgundy clothes almost every day since Cloud had woken him up from his nightmares in the Shinra mansion's basement.  

A young man walked up to Vincent, he was wearing light brown clothes and a cowboy hat.  He was idly swinging a rifle in his hand; the man walked up to Vincent and swung the weapon onto his shoulder. Vincent looked up to him, hating the fact that he was now so much shorter than most people, the man smiled, "Hi, I'm Irvine, I've been told you use sniper rifles."

Vincent wasn't sure if he liked the blunt attitude of this guy, but Sephiroth had ordered him to act like a 16 year old novice, so he would, "Yes sir, but I'm not very good at it, I've had some practice with one or two rifles."

"What sort?"

Vincent knew enough about guns to tell him absolutely everything about any type of handgun, rifle or shot gun ever made, ranging from the speed of rounds each gun shot out to what all the components were and how to put them together, but the cowboy wasn't supposed to know that.  "I don't know, but it was long, made of wood, and you had to put in one bullet at a time.  It was kind of heavy too and had a funny eye piece to look through."  Vincent stopped himself from cringing with the completely stupid childlike explanation of the rifle.  

"Hmmm…was it called the Sniper CR?"

"It was" Vincent was amazed, maybe Irvine wasn't as stupid as he looked in that outfit

Both walked towards a low wall by the entrance and sat down, talking excitedly about their chosen weapon type and how great it was.

Rinoa was stood outside, her knight by her side, trying to focus her internal magic into casting Thundaga onto a small pebble about 300 meters away.  She couldn't see the pebble, but her power could find it, making it so that she could see it in her mind's eye, Squall's voice floated through her concentration, talking her through what she had to do.

"…concentrate, feel the stone, imagine it, every colour, every flaw, feel the pebble…"

She felt the energy building up inside her, she flicked a hand towards the grey pebble, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky a stuck about 20 cm away from the pebble, causing the pebble and surrounding ground to explode.  The pebble shattered by the energy, '_does that count?_'

"Well done Rinoa, that's the closest you've been all day!"  

Rinoa through her arms around Squalls neck and kissed him on the cheek, Squall blushed furiously and started to stammer as he moved back a couple of steps, he was so cute when he did that. 

"Erm…s-s-so Rinoa, want t-to try again?"

"The pebble or the kiss?"

"The pebble!"  

Rinoa sighed; the guy was so shy when it came to things like this.

"I'd rather just sit here for a bit and look at the sea, it looks so pretty with the sun just risen."

"Erm…okay"

The sat down side-by-side gazing at the sea, each lost in their own thoughts.  Eventually Rinoa got tired of the silence and tried to strike up conversation with him, it wasn't as hard as it once had been to get Squall to talk, but it was sometimes a bit of a challenge, but was one that she didn't mind doing.

"I heard that we've finally got some new cadets."

"Yeah, its about time too.  We couldn't have gone on for long without new cadets."

"They're a bit strange aren't they?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, they're both a bit odd, with their hair and clothes.  I've seen a lot of people from a lot of places, growing up in Galbadia, moving to Timber and then travelling with you and the others, and I don't recognise where they could come from, I've never heard their accents either."

"On their forms, they said that they're from a small island called…What was it now?…oh yeah the Isle of Nibelheim."

"The Isle of Nibelheim?  I've never heard of it."

"Me neither, but I don't claim to know of every island, village and town in the world."

"Well you should, you've visited every one."

"Except the Isle of Nibelheim."  Squall pointed out to her

"Well yeah, apart from this so called 'island' that probably doesn't even exist."

"And I thought it was me that doesn't trust other people."  Squall muttered thinking that Rinoa wouldn't hear

"It's not that I don't trust other people, Squall, I just don't trust people who magically appear out of thin air and say they're from a place I've never heard of before.  Don't you think that it's strange that two SeeDs disappear and then two potential cadets appear the next day?"

"I know what you mean.  I saw the blonde one, Cloud, training the other day, just before that Gnat broke his ribs, he's really strong, probably stronger than some of the SeeDs, Vincent too, he took down the Gant by punching it."

"Is Cloud doing ok?"

"Yeah, you healed him as good as new."

Rinoa hesitated a second before carrying on "There's something about that I should tell you about that, I'm not sure if its important or not, but it was strange."

"What?"

"Well, those ribs had been broken for a while, only me, Dr Kadowaki, Cloud and his brother know that.  We asked him how it had happened, and if he'd been taken any painkillers, because he would have been in a lot of pain, and I mean a lot.  He told us that he hadn't taken anything, but refused to say how it happened."

"He seemed fine when I interviewed him earlier that day.  Maybe he has a really high pain threshold."

Rinoa looked sceptical "I don't know, but there is something odd about him, and I'm gonna keep an eye on them both."

"Don't worry, Zell can keep an eye on them, and yesterday Irvine said that he was going to talk to Vincent about learning how to be a sniper like him, so he can ask Vincent about them both.  He can be careful when he wants to be."

"Come on, let's go back, the Cafeteria will be open in a bit."

"Okay"

_Authors note:_

In case anyone has never noticed, Cloud has a bandage tied around his left arm, you can see it on most pictures of him, although its never been explained why its there in the game.

And I'm sorry for the wait for this chapter, but my computers been broken and in the shop for about two weeks now, and I've been having to do this chapter at school.  So it's taken me a while between coursework and lessons and stuff.  ^_^  but this is kinda a boring chapter so it took a while to write, but hey you gotta have them now again to make it all connect.  

Thanks to all the reviews -sob- you make it all worth while.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:  The joys of lessons The next day 

Cloud and Vincent were sat at the back of a classroom, pretending to be interested in the lesson.  It was about different status aliments that monsters could give you and how to cure them.  It was trying to teach your grandmother to suck eggs, Cloud and Vincent knew every possible way to prevent or heal every possible status aliment on Planet, and it wasn't any different from here, Gaia as the planet was called.  They had been put in this class because there were no classes for the 'rookies' they were pretending to be, as so few new people had joined lately, but these lessons were so unbelievably easy to them.  The instructor had once been a SeeD, but she had stayed on at Garden to teach those wanting to become one.  Vincent didn't remember her name, but she was tall and very bulky under the clothes she wore, he guessed it was more likely to be muscle than fat judging on how she moved.  Her hair was thin and pulled back from her face into a tight brown ponytail, her eyes seemed to be piggy and small, Vincent didn't like her.  

Cloud was idly doodling of a piece of paper; not really paying attention to what he was drawing, while Vincent watched him.  Cloud was drawing a door over and over again, sometimes the door was closed and other times it was open.  Vincent looked at Cloud's face, he was staring at the instructor with a blank expression, Vincent wondered if he even knew that he was drawing at all.  

A sudden shrill noise broke through the classroom making the entire class jump.  Cloud woke abruptly from his day dreaming, the pen ran over the desk, making a long black line across it, as he looked around the room trying to figure out what the noise was, it was a kind of loud ringing and sounded somewhat familiar.  

"The PHS" Vincent hissed at him having recognised the sound at once

Cloud looked confused for a moment, who had his number?  Then he realised that it could only be Sephiroth, no one else could possibly know his number.  

"What's that noise?  Who has their mobile phone on?  I want it now!  Mobiles are not allowed in class, you should know that by now." The instructor started ranting at the class.

Cloud stood up and raced from the room not wanted anyone to hear him speaking to his boss and master, as the instructor shouted, "STOP!".  Vincent did some hasty thinking and decided to follow Cloud to find out why Sephiroth was calling.  He exited the classroom, and saw a door swinging shut, down the corridor and to his left. He quietly stalked up to it knowing that Cloud would be able to hear normal footsteps due to his enhanced hearing.  He put his ear to the door and waited, listening to the conversation, while hoping that the instructor wasn't planning on following them into the hallway.  Luckily for him the door wasn't thick and his hearing was good, making it so that he could hear just about what said on both sides of the phone call.

"Boss?  Is that you?"

"Cloud?"

"Yes, boss."

"Good.  This is your master speaking.  How have you gone on so far?"

"It's going okay, they've accepted me and the traitor, Vincent, into Garden.  I believe that they think that we're just harmless little boys."

"Excellent, how is your mission going?"

"Well, its not going too well at the moment, we've been kept in Garden to train.  Though I have befriended some of the SeeDs and the Garden Commander, his name is Squall and I believe that I could take him out.  But the only problem would be getting him alone, and a lot of people care for him so they'd be really mad if anything happened to him."

"…and what's your point?"  Sephiroth sounded sarcastically angry

"I just think that I should wait and take him out last, to…"

"Valentine!"  Vincent shot back from the door and looked around, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Running out of class like that!  Where's Cloud?"  The large instructor had somehow managed to walk up to Vincent without him noticing, '_I should've been paying attention to both the classroom and to Cloud, not just to Cloud.'_  He mentally kicked himself.

"Fine then, if you're not going to talk come with me." She said taking his silence for an answer.

The woman grabbed Vincent's shoulder and physically dragged him back to the classroom where everyone was sat and watching with wide-eyed wonder and fascination.  Vincent cursed himself of his weak 16 year old body.  She let go of him upon reaching the desk at the front of the room.  Vincent drew himself to his full height, which wasn't much seeing as he was very short for his 'age', and stared back at the women coldly.  

"You're going to tell the class why you decided to run off and leave us."

Vincent stayed silent, he was not here to explain himself to her, but this only seemed to aggravate the instructor more.  He turned away from her and looked at the class, they all seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation.  

"Tell us now." She said threateningly, her eyes narrowing at him

Vincent rolled his eyes, like he was really scared of her, he had felt the wrath of Sephiroth, and an overweight (although muscled) woman wasn't going to frighten him any time soon.  A couple of kids on the front desks saw his eye movement and started to giggle, but quickly muffled it as her eyes darted towards them.  

"If that's the way you want it fine.  Tell us about the 'phone, or get out of this class and don't come back."

Vincent shrugged and left the room, he heard a wave of gasping from the cadets as he walked out, they had heard this threat from her a thousand times before, but no one had _ever_ had the nerve to actually walk out on her, each cadet had given up at this point, if they hadn't before, and had done whatever she wanted.  Vincent kept a smooth face as he left the room, trying not to grin like a madman, he could practically _hear_ the frustration and anger in her.  He quickly decided to go and find Irvine to see if he had a sniper rifle he could practice with, while behind him the nameless instructor shouted for him to get back to class.

Cloud peered out of the room, no one was there, he quickly stepped out and walked down the corridor, the PHS safely away in his pocket.  The boss's threats about having to start the mission soon playing on his mind, how was he supposed to do anything while he was stuck here?  He heard some one opening a door to his right and stopped, jumping back so that it wouldn't hit him as it opened, a familiar looking young woman came out, she had black hair with light brown highlights and carried a strange looking crossbow type weapon in her hand.  

Rinoa noticed the new boy, Cloud Valentine, standing behind the classroom door, and quickly shut it behind her to keep him from seeing inside, only SeeD and the instructors knew about the SeeD common room and she didn't want the secret to be let out to the cadets.  Especially someone who had yet to prove their loyalty to Garden, and who was currently scowling openly at her.

"I'm sorry, did I hit you?"  She said insincerely 

"No" Cloud walked around her and turned down the bridge that connected the upstairs classrooms to the elevator.  

Rinoa decided to see what Cloud was up to, lessons hadn't finished yet and she was curious as to why he was wondering about, '_I wonder if he's skipping classes?  But I can hardly talk, I used to do it all the time when my supposed father hired all those people to give me private tuition at Deling City.'  _

"So Cloud, are you feeling any better?  You were a mess last time I saw you."

Cloud stopped and looked at her distrustfully "Do I know you?"

"I'm Rinoa, I more or less healed up your ribs by myself"

"Oh yeah, I remember you.  You're Squall's girlfriend, right?"  Cloud started walking again, watching her out of the corner of his eye, while Rinoa followed him.  She nodded in response to his question and waited for the 'oh so familiar' question of "So how did you defeat Ultimecia?" but the question never came.  They reached the lift, Cloud pressed the button to call for it, they waited for it in silence until Rinoa noticed something .

"Hey, didn't you wear those clothes when you arrived here?"

Cloud looked down at his old SOLDIER uniform that Zack had given him so long ago.

"Yes"

"I don't think I've seen you wear any other clothes than that."

Cloud stayed silent as the elevator pinged its arrival while the doors smoothly opened, he hesitated a moment before they both got in.

"Do you actually have any other clothes?  Not that I'm prying or anything, but its mine and Quistis's job to make sure that all the students here are okay and have everything they need."

"…No, no I don't have any other clothes."  Cloud sounded agitated 

"Didn't you think to bring any?"

Cloud shrugged, and quickly pressed the button for the ground floor, _'That's not an answer, and whys he fidgeting like that?' _Rinoa thought as she saw Cloud eying the glass elevator warily behind his sunglasses, and kept looking around him for some reason, his hands twitched unconsciously too until he quickly folded his arms across his chest. __

"Are you doing anything after lunch?"

"No…why?"

This guy was as hard to get to talk as Squall it seemed, "We're going to buy you some new clothes." She said bluntly as the elevator's doors opened onto the ground floor, and they stepped out, Cloud first.  

"I don't have any money." Cloud lied not liking the way this conversation was going.

 "Don't worry, Garden still has enough money to buy essential items to people who need them.  I'm sure no one will mind, especially since I know the SeeD in charge of finance.  Xu'll give me the money no problem, we can go to Esthar, its really grown in the last few years and has even more shops!  Just find Vincent and meet me outside after lunch then, bye!"   She walked away leaving a very stunned looking Cloud behind, '_This'll give me a great chance to get to know that the heck the Valentines are up to, as well as giving them something decent to wear for once instead of those stupid looking rags.  Maybe I should see if Rinoa and Selphie want to come too…'_

_'What the hell just happened?  New Clothes?  I like these'_, Cloud looked at his black dragon hide gloves and boots, and then at the rest of his clothes, he'd worn the same clothes for _years _and no one had complained before, _'Then again everyone else in AVALANCHE wore the same clothes over and over again too.'_  Thinking about it, Cloud realised that he had only had two sets of clothes in the last 6 years or so of his life, first his SOLDIER third class uniform, that he wore day in and day out when in that cursed _test tube_ in the Shin-ra mansion, and then this one of Zack's (ignoring the fact that he had later owned an expensive purple silk dress in Midgar, as Yuffie had 'borrowed' it at the Gold Saucer, and Cloud had never seen it again much to his relief).  

Vincent was sat outside, practising with the rifle that Irvine had given him, it wasn't nearly as good as the now destroyed Death Penalty was, but it would do.  It reminded him of his old Winchester shotgun that he had bought from Mideel, of course this  hadn't any materia slots in it and Vincent still hadn't figured out how people could use magic without any materia, it was something he would have to puzzle out another day.  The Winchester look-a-like was actually called Heaven's Peace, _'An ironic name for a weapon', _it was a smoothed and polished dark wood, he didn't recognise the type though, it was also incredibly streamlined but could only hold two rounds at a time.  So a lot of loading would be required when it was in use.

He fingered the rounds that Irvine had given him, he had always used normal, every day, Shin-ra military style rounds, but here there were many different types, this one was armour piercing, that one was fast ammo and the black one was called dark ammo.  He briefly wondered how many types there were before lying back down on the grass and staring at the clouds drifting by…clouds…he wondered what Cloud had been ordered to do and hoped that it wasn't too ruthless and callous, Vincent couldn't cope with anymore remorse.  

He rolled onto his stomach and took aim at three cans that he had lined up earlier, they were about 200 meters away. He breathed in and out slowly and then held his breath with his lungs empty of oxygen, he fired Heaven's Peace twice and hit two cans square in the middle, both fell over.  He loaded the weapon again, but only put in one round as he took aim, he concentrated on his breathing '_in…out…in…out…and hold it…' _he fired again, the round shot through the middle of the 'O' in 'Cola', well at least his aim was still as good as it was before Sephiroth decided to play with that stupid Time materia.  

"Wow!!! Dude, that amazing!!!" Vincent looked behind him and saw Zell stood there, he ran over to the can, "Wow!! How the hell did you hit that?!?!!  That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen!"

Vincent rolled onto his back and sat up, looking at Zell over his shoulder, "Have you never seen someone shoot a coke can before?"  Zell came running back, holding the can in his hand.

"But, Dude, you hit the centre of the 'O'!"

"Must have been a fluke."  He lied

"Oh, I almost forgot, Rinoa and some of the girls are taking you and Cloud out to buy clothes in Esther, you have to wait out here for them to come after lunch.  They say that you smell."  Zell took a step forward as if wanting to see if Vincent actually did smell

"I do not require any new clothes."  He said, starting to get up off the floor

"Vinny," Vincent froze at the name, halfway off the grass; only people from AVALANCHE had ever called him that before, "as your SeeD trainer I'm commanding you to go, Garden is paying for it, Xu makes sure that money is kept aside for poor students to get things that they need."  The blonde martial arts SeeD said seriously, as Vincent unfroze and stood up, still holding Heaven's Peace in his right hand.

'_Poor?'_  The money Cloud made breeding and racing Chocobos had been split equally among AVALANCHE, making sure each one of them had enough money to live on comfortably for years, and Vincent still had the bank account with his Turk earnings in there, interest over the years had increased it dramatically, he was anything but poor.  But he hated this short-sleeved white shirt, showing people the scars that Sephiroth had inflicted on him, he was already sick of the sympathy looks people were giving him…cuts, scars, a 'broken arm' and red eyes made him look as though he was regularly beaten and had been for a while.  

"I'll be there."  Maybe he could get a decent outfit…

"Good, I was gonna start training you and Cloud today, but I guess you need stuff to wear, I can hardly have you two walking around naked when your clothes are in the wash, so we'll just start tomorrow, or whenever, seeing as you're probably gonna be sleeping over there tonight…. Can I keep this can?"

_1300 hours, outside:_

Cloud had arrived by the front gates, he saw Vincent leaning against a wall at one side of the entrance, his eyes were closed, but Cloud bet that he was listening intently to the conversation between Quistis and Rinoa.

"…have to give the message to President Laguna, Squall said that its important…"  Quistis was arguing

Cloud moved over to Vincent, who opened his eyes and looked over to see who it was.  "What's going on?" Cloud asked quietly

"Commander Squall gave a message for President Laguna of Esther to Quistis, but the Presidential Palace is pretty far from where the shops are, so Rinoa and Selphie don't want to deliver it as soon as we get there, they want to do so tomorrow morning if at all."

"Selphie?"  Cloud looked around but there was only the four of them there, "Where is she?"

"She went to pick up something called the Ragnarok, she said that she will be back soon."

"Ragnarok?  But I thought she used Shinobous, not swords?"  Cloud said thinking of one of his favourite old swords, the Ragnarok

Vincent shrugged, "They told me that the Ragnarok is impressive so to watch out for it."

"So you closed your eyes?" 

Vincent shrugged again and once more closed his eyes while still leaning against the wall, Cloud narrowed his eyes at him behind the sunglasses.  He walked to the other side of the entrance and sat down on the floor, once he had taken off the Ultima Weapon to make it more comfortable.

Five minutes later Quistis and Rinoa agreed on what to do about the message; they were going to deliver it as soon as they got there (much to Rinoa's disappointment), but in return they would each get some new clothes (which Rinoa was very happy about) out of the money that Xu had given them to spend.    

A sudden roaring noise made Cloud jump up, grab Ultima Weapon from the ground and get into his fighting stance.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vincent in fighting stance too, but was holding a rifle; he'd ask Vincent about that later, Vincent wasn't supposed to have weapons.  He looked around, but saw no monsters, '_What the heck is going on?'_ Rinoa and Quistis had stopped talking and where looking up at the sky, Cloud's jaw dropped, and his blade nearly did too, all thoughts of Vincent's new weapon wiped from his mind.  Above them was a huge ship, almost as impressive as the Highwind, trying to land.  It was a deep red colour and had the same jagged-yet-smooth appearance that his old sword used to have, the thing was huge, with two massive engines at the rear.  Cid would have _killed_ to have a go flying this thing.

The Ragnarok landed safely nearby, and Selphie came running out.  

"Hey guys!" she shouted, waving at them as she skidded to a halt, "So, what do you think?" She said to Cloud and Vincent

"It is impressive." Vincent answered

"It is impressive."  Selphie mimicked, making her voice deep and monotone, "Is that all you can say?  Cloud?"

"Are we going to be flying in it?"

"Yep"

"Wow…"

Selphie rolled her eyes, "Come on guys, lets go before the shops close!"

"Huh?  Are you and Rinoa coming along as well?"

"Duh!! Of course we are!  Do you really think we'd have passed up going on a shopping spree?"  She turned to the two SeeDs, "Well?"

"We're going to give Laguna the message first, and then she shop!  Quistis is going to give us some money to buy ourselves some stuff."  Rinoa said

"Woohoo!"  She danced, "Well lets get going!"

They all piled on board the Ragnarok, and stood on the bridge, as Selphie seemed to press random buttons and pulled random levels.  The ship shuddered and slowly rose off the ground. 

Cloud looked out of a window, as Selphie shouted, "Here we go!!"  The ground fell away quickly as she pulled another level, and then turned into a blur as the ship sped away to its destination, the flight was smooth and only lasted a couple of hours, even Yuffie would have found it hard to complain.

Cloud fingered the hilt of his sword over his shoulder, '_So this Laguna is the President of Esther then?  It seems as though the mission truly starts today.'_  


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Esther

The Ragnarok landed in the president's own landing bay at the back of the Presidential Palace.  Quistis climbed out and made her way through the back entrance of the building to the Presidential office, the SeeDs and two cadets followed.

"Whoa!" gasped Cloud as he looked out of a window that he passed in a corridor they were walking down.  The entire city was shaped like a giant spider; with the building he was currently in being in the middle of it all.  The buildings where all made of coloured glass, blue and white stones and metal.  Even the most common of houses was intricately painted and cared for by its owners.  There were high bridges and tubes connecting everything with everything, Cloud didn't know what the tubes were for, but the whole place looked…well…cool.  If ever a place was the opposite of Midgar, this was it, though Cloud guessed that the attitude was the same as those who lived in the slums, 'we love our land and everyone in it', and this definitely showed here.  Cloud wondered if all of the cities on Gaia looked like this, he hoped not.  Feeling like a country bumpkin with all his staring, Cloud moved away from the window and followed the others, trying not to gape at the Palace as he went.

Quistis walked up to a young Asian man who was sat behind a large metal desk in the corridor, which had widened up into a room. The silver desk was beside a tinted glass door and an unusual looking tree, she guessed he was the receptionist from looking at all the papers and the computer on his desk.  

"Excuse me, Sir?"

"Yes" He looked up at the group of teenagers and immediately eyed their weapons warily

"I am Instructor Quistis Trepe, from Balamb Garden, I have an important message for President Laguna Lorrie, he has been informed of our arrival and is expecting us."

The man looked at them all one by one, "Who are the others, I was only told to let you through as you'd be coming alone."

"The others are SeeDs; Selphie Tilmitt and Rinoa Heartilly, the other two are Garden Cadets; Cloud and Vincent Valentine.  Commander Squall Leonhart thought that I would be travelling alone, but I decided to come with other SeeDs, it is dangerous for SeeDs or instructors to travel alone these days."

The man nodded his agreement while he wrote their names down, and then pressed a button on an intercom attached to his desk, he repeated their names and indicated that they wanted to see the President.   Laguna's voice came through the intercom,

"What? They're here already? Let them in!"

"Go through the door here, fifth door to your right, it says President Lorrie on the plaque."  The man went back to his work, ignoring them.

Quistis looked at Rinoa, shrugged, and then led the way to the office.

Cloud followed the others, tailing behind, carefully watching everyone they passed as he walked down the corridor, his SOLDIER training examined everyone he saw, none looked like the fighting type and only they themselves carried weapons.  The corridor was made entirely of glass; the roof was made of clear glass, letting Cloud see the sky outside, whereas the walls and floor were a misty blue colour, not letting him see through them, doors were a misty white.  It made him feel cold, and reminded him of the ice caverns in the Great Glacier and the Gaea Cliffs.  They stopped after a while in front of a door that had a gold plaque with the words 'President Lorrie of Esther' engraved on it in flowing writing.  

"Cloud, Vincent, wait here, this is Garden business.  We'll be back in a few minutes.  Guard the door and don't let anyone in."  Quistis said as she opened the door, the two SeeDs followed her into the room.  Cloud caught a glimpse of a middle-aged man with brown hair and a smiling youthful face before the door swung shut.

Cloud took the Ultima Weapon from his back and put the point of the blade on the floor as he leaned against it.  Vincent watched him out of the corner of his eye, Cloud smiled, it seemed as through Vincent still didn't trust him, '_What a shame, but Vincent should know that if I wanted him dead he would be by now'.  No one was in the hallway and as Cloud's enhanced hearing couldn't pick out the conversation in the room behind him, he started to get bored.  But he had been on guard duty more times than he could count, and was used to long periods of standing still in complete boredom, so he kept quiet and waited.  _

"Cloud…?"  Said Vincent breaking the silence

"What?"

"What did Sephiroth want when he rang earlier?"

Cloud swung his sword up to Vincent's neck, the blade less than a blur, and stopped the blade about half an inch from his skin.  "Don't you _ever say the boss's name you piece of scum, you aren't worthy enough to say it."  Cloud hissed at Vincent, his eyes narrowed into slits behind the sunglasses.  He could see the traitor swallow and try to back away, but the thick glass walls were pressed against his back and so he was pinned between the blade and the walls.  "If I ever hear you say his name again you will regret it, as the boss said, you are expendable.  Do you understand?"  Cloud pressed the blade onto Vincent's neck, a line of blood appeared on the blade._

Vincent nodded his head slightly, _'Damn, Cloud can be scary when he wants to be'.  He felt the blade moving away from his neck after a few seconds, he watched Cloud place the blade back on the floor, with the point of it resting on the misty-blue glass floor, with the hilt in one hand and the other routing through his pockets.  Vincent brought a hand up to his throat, it was bleeding, not badly, but it would be noticeable to anyone who looked.  He watched Cloud cautiously as he pulled out a bright green materia from his left pocket; Cloud tossed it to him as Vincent's eyebrows rose in surprise as he caught it._

"It's a Cure materia, it's fairly new, so it only knows Cure 1."

"…Why…?"  He asked, confused at Cloud's actions, one minute the guy was calm, the next he was threatening to kill him, and then he was giving him materia, Cloud was simply even more complicated then he himself was.

"I don't want you keeling over if something happens, I need someone there to cover for me, and you're the only one who can do that.  So keep that materia, I don't need it because I have a Master Magic materia equipped."

Vincent nodded again; he held the materia close and concentrated on it, "**Cure 1!**"  Vincent glowed slightly as he felt the power building up inside him and his mp dropping slightly, a spiral of green light wove around his body as it healed him.  Vincent could feel the skin on his neck growing and fusing over the cut and felt somewhat refreshed once the light had faded away.  He glanced around, no one was in the hallway still, and thus no one had seen the materia work.  

"So you want to know what the boss said?"  Asked Cloud calmly

"…Yes" Vincent asked, not sure how he was supposed to answer the question

"He wants us to hurry up with the mission, I told him about that SeeD written exam next week, and he wants me to take it, which means you are too."

"Huh?"  Vincent raked his brains, when had Cloud been informed of this?  He couldn't remember.

Cloud must have noticed his slightly drawn together eyebrows, the subconscious action Vincent did when he was confused or thinking hard.

"Zell told me about it when we were in the Cafeteria, before you came when I left the Infirmary a few days ago."  

"I see"

"When we get back I'm gonna enrol us on the exam rota.  Oh, and I'm gonna kill President Lorrie today."

"What?!"  Was Vincent hearing straight?  Had Cloud just said that he was going to kill the President?  He quickly glanced about, the corridor was still empty.  Vincent took a deep breath; he was slowly losing his control over his emotions, and had been for a while now his mind suddenly noticed, but that was something he couldn't afford to do when he was playing such a dangerous game.  Especially as though if he got angry enough he could accidentally let loose one of his monsters, and that wasn't such a good idea in such a populated area like Esther was.  

"You heard me, I'm going to kill him, all you'll have to do is distract the girls when we're shopping, then I'll going to come back here and do what I must to ensure the mission goes well."

Vincent had never heard anyone decide to kill someone so calm and coldly, and he had been in the Turks!  Vincent was about to reply when the door between them opened.  The three girls came out and waved good-bye to the man inside.  Cloud had definitely changed since the Northern Crater incident; he just hoped that Cloud could turn back to his old self again, and soon.

"See you soon, Laguna, we'll tell you if anything comes up!"  Waved Selphie as she turned, closing the door behind them.  

Cloud picked up his sword and swung it onto the magnet on his top, "So…?"

"So now we shop!"  Shouted Selphie turning from the door "Whooo hooo!"

Cloud rolled his eyes, and followed the others who led the way along the corridor and eventually out onto the streets of Esther, acting as though he hadn't just been telling Vincent about how he was going to assassinate Esther's favourite president, and Selphie's personal hero.  

_The new Shopping District:_

"Ohhhh, looky here!  Cloud, this'll suit you with that blonde hair of yours!"  Selphie said as Rinoa held up a mint green turtle neck jumper, Cloud sighed and walked over to them.

"I don't care, just buy it!"  Cloud said exasperatedly, running his hands through his hair, hitting his face in the process with a bag that was dangling from his wrist.  

"Come on Cloud, you've said that about the last 10 or so jumpers we've shown you."  Said Quistis.  Cloud silently prayed for a quick and sudden death to get out of this hellhole, they had been shopping for almost 4 hours!!!! Cloud and Vincent were weighed down with bags and boxes, while the girls carried none.  Cloud sighed, this was why he had never gone shopping with women in the past, Zack had told him what Aeris was like shopping, according to him, she could go on for hours and so Cloud had avoided shops and women together like the plague.  And Cloud still hadn't had the chance to sneak away and find the Presidential Palace.

Rinoa held up the top in front of Cloud to see how it looked, "Nice, I think we'll take this one too."  She said as Quistis nodded in agreement and Selphie took the money that Xu had originally given to Rinoa.  Cloud had quite plainly refused to try anything on, knowing how much longer that would make the shopping last and so they didn't bother asking him to try the new jumper on.

"I think that's enough now."

"Oh, come on Cloud, Vincent isn't complaining."

"I think it looks great too." Vincent said automatically, coming out of a self induced trance at the sound of his name

"Men!"  Sighed Quistis and Selphie together 

"Sorry?"

"Come on, there's a really good store over the road, its where I buy all Squall's clothes."  Said Rinoa, once Selphie had paid for yet some more clothes for Cloud and Vincent

"No wonder he's suddenly started to get a dress sense, you're buying all his things!"  Qusitis said, and then laughed with the other two girls at this newly found information.  

Cloud heaved up a couple of bags that were starting to slip down his left arm, rolling the bandage down his arm and stopping at his gloves, scratching his skin with their weight, "Come on, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can go."  

"Yeah, Cloud still has some space left to carry things, we can hang a couple of bags from each end of his hilt."

"Like hell you are!"

"Oh, Cloud, stop your moaning and be quiet."

Cloud muttered something under his breath and led the way out of the store.

_Esther hotel; The New Life:_

"Finally!"  Cloud dropped the bags in his hand on the floor by the reception desk two hours later, while Rinoa pressed a bell for the owner to come.  After a few seconds a man poked his head out of a door behind the huge wooden desk, and seeing them started grinning broadly, and walked over to where the group of five stood.  The man was balding, the little hair he had was a bright red colour and had been cut short**, **and an apron that was tied around his waist was stretched across his huge stomach.

"Hello, and how may I help you?"

"We're looking for a room for the five of us for the night."  Quistis said

"Well the only room that I have available on such short notice is a three bedded room, is that okay?"

"Sure, we don't mind sharing.  How much will that be?"

"300 Gil for all of you seeing as you're only having three beds.  If you want breakfast it will be served 8.30 till 10.30 free of charge."

"Thank you."  Quistis said while looking for some money in her purse before remembering that Selphie had it.

The innkeeper smiled, "Up the stairs to your left, third room along."  He handed Quistis a key with the number 3 engraved on it, "Oh, and could you please sign your name in the guest book before you go tomorrow."

He turned away and went back through the door, to what Cloud suspected to be a kitchen of some sort, coming from the smells and sounds emerging as the door swung open and then shut behind him.  

"Come on then, Cloud pick up those bags" Quistis said as she started up the staircase, Vincent looked around, taking in the details of the building, from the outside, the inn had looked similar to the others, no big differences apart from the baskets of flowers hanging from hooks at either side of the door that most of the inns had lacked.  Inside The New Life Inn,the innkeeper had furnished it in a way that wouldn't be out of place on most cities on Planet, it had oak floors and wooden furniture like the desk in front of the door, there was a door to the right of the room that he suspected led to the dining room.  But the stairs were made of that strange hardened glass this city seemed to be so fond of, it seemed like a strange mix of the past and the future to Vincent's eyes.  

Upstairs the inn had dark red carpets and wooden panelling on the walls; a few paintings of young women and bright flowers were hung on the walls.  Qusitis stopped at a door, 

"Looks like we're in here." She walked into the room, everyone piled in after her, Vincent closed the door behind him as he entered, "I hope you guys don't mind sleeping on the floor tonight?"

Vincent shrugged and the 'teens' threw their bags onto one of the beds, a few bags fell onto the floor "Hey!" said Selphie, "They could break you know!"

"Clothes can break?"  Asked Vincent with a raised eyebrow

Rinoa and Qusitis started to laugh

"You know what I mean."

"Do I?"

"I'm going out for a while."  Said Cloud interrupting Selphie as she opened her mouth to answer Vincent, he looked at Vincent pointedly, who instantly knew where Cloud was headed.

"Why?"  Said Rinoa

"Because I need some fresh air."  Cloud walked past the bed and was headed for the door, when he felt a hand grab his left arm

"Huh?"  He said, turning around to see who had him

"Cloud…is this what I think it is?"  It seemed it was Quistis who had caught him

"What?"

"…Your arm."

Cloud looked down at his arm, he hadn't noticed that the weight of the shopping bags had pushed down his bandage, showing everyone who looked the scars from the endless needles Hojo had injected him with, and monitor sensors that had stayed hooked up under his skin for years.

"It's nothing."

"Have you been taking drugs?   We need to know if you have any...problems, we can help you get through this" Cloud snatched his arm away from her, '_what in Planet's name does she know?  There's nothing she can do, its all in the past now', but Cloud couldn't help from shuddering as he remembered how he had got the scars.  His arm was still slightly red even in all this time, his body was still healing itself, round, white scars and red lumps could be seen along his left forearm and on the inside of his elbow.  _

"No I haven't taken any drugs, not that it's any of your business.  I'm going out now."  Cloud hastily left the room before someone caught him again and accused him something else.

Cloud made sure that the bandages were tightly fastened before he left the inn and tucked the ends into his glove.   He crossed the street and silently blended in with the night before vanishing into the shadows, he had a job to do, and tonight was the night to do it.  


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:  The Presidential Palace

Cloud looked at the watch on his right wrist next to his Escort Guard, it was 22:30 precisely, he had plenty of time to be in and out before anyone noticed him.  The ex-SOLIDER briefly wondered why no one was outside on the streets at this time, not that he was complaining or anything, the less witnesses about, the better it was for him.  

He glanced up at the building in front of him, to his Mako enhanced eyes, the world was entirely blue, as though he was swimming underwater, he was glad that he had the sunglasses on, else anyone looking would have seen his eyes glowing in the darkness.  The building he was inspecting was the Presidential place, he was stood at the back of it, being the only way in that he knew of.  The Ragnarok was still in the docking bay and Cloud's back was turned to it.  He had been keeling behind a shrub, hidden in the shadows, for about half an hour and there was still no movement in any window, there were obviously no security guards, but that didn't mean that there were other types of security devices in there; cameras, trip wires, motion and sound sensors.  

Cloud sighed, '_time to go'_.  He silently slipped away in such a way that would make even Vincent proud, and glided over to the door.   Once there, he tried the handle…locked…he glanced around, the road was still empty, he took out a lock pickfrom his pocket and cautiously inserted it into a small opening under the door handle, after a few seconds of careful twisting, he heard a soft click – the door was unlocked.  Cloud wondered for a moment why such a high-tech building had a normal door on it; he guessed that the crime rate was so low no one bothered to have proper protection against intruders.  The ex-SOLIDER now-assassin slipped through the door and closed it behind him; the lock pick** went back into his pocket.  Keeping to the shadows, Cloud made his way through the building, meeting no one as he went, and quickly found the entrance to the President's office, it being the only place he knew in the building. **

Laguna yawned, it was getting late, he hated paper work, and was supposed to meet Kiros and Ward at the Monster Hunter's Pub an hour ago.   Maybe he should cancel and just go another night, they'd probably left anyway.  He stretched his arms above his head and looked around his office, it was only small, but was still one of the biggest in the building.  The walls all had wood panelling (most people is Esthar thought that he was weird for having them, but let it slide due to the fact he was 'an outsider'). The floor was misty green coloured glass, but the ceiling was made from clear glass letting him see the clear night sky above.  A large window covered one wall, and showed all who entered a perfect birds eye view of Western Esthar at night, it twinkled and glowed in a way that no other city did, and made him proud to be an honorary Estharian.  On his desk sat a huge pile of papers, a couple of reports, a new laptop and a duel picture frame of Raine in one slot and her first and only child in the other, a boy aged only a few months in the picture.  He wished for what seemed like the hundredth time that he had a picture of the boy at his current age, but that seemed very unlikely to happen any time soon…

Laguna abruptly realised that the only light in the room was his lamp, which he vaguely remembered switching on hours ago, just how long had he been sat here working?  The laptop Kiros had leant him bleeped as an e-mail arrived.  Laguna ignored it and leaned forward onto his desk, with his head resting on his folded arms, his eyes started to close as let himself be taken away to the land of sleep.  But something wasn't right, his old, yet still keen, fighter's senses told him something was defiantly wrong, he quickly jumped out of his chair with all the speed from his youth, and dived across the room.  A loud THUD, crack, then another thud followed by the sounds of things been broken and smashing was heard.  Laguna quickly stood up and looked over to his desk, where his head had been moments before a huge sword now was, it had split the table in half, and the contents of it were all over the floor, the lamp rolled away and pulled its wire from the plug socket, plunging the room into darkness, the only light now was coming in from the moon and street lights outside the window and roof.  

Laguna looked at the sword that was now turning to face him '_Now that is the biggest sword I have ever seen in my life!  What sort of He-man could carry that, never mind use it?'_  Laguna's eyes followed the blade upwards, a small boy of about 16 or 17 was carrying it, he felt his eyes popping, '_How the hell can a small boy like him carry such a huge sword?!?!'.  The boy's hair was a brilliant blonde, and seemed to defy all laws of nature and gravity in its style, he was wearing some strange clothes that Laguna didn't recognise and wore dark sunglasses, that some how made the outfit ominously complete.  _

The boy let go of the sword and managed to hold it in one hand while he took off the dark sunglasses and put them into a pant pocket.  Laguna thought that if his eyes popped out anymore they would come out of his head completely and would be rolling around on the floor by now – how could anyone hold a weapon that big with only one hand?

"All the better to see you with, my dear."  The boy grinned as he replaced both hands back onto the hilt of the huge weapon.

"Just…just who are you, Spiky?  What do you think you're doing?  You completely destroyed my desk!  Kiros is gonna kill me, you've just sliced his laptop in two, never mind my paperwork that I've been doing for like FOREVER!"  Laguna said angrily, trying to stall for time as he thought of a way out of this unexpected confusion. The boy's eyes glowed blue in the semi-dark, '_I wonder where he got glow in the dark contact lenses?  Shut up Laguna, don't think of that, its not important, now where did I put my gun?'_  Laguna glanced around the room, keeping an eye on the blonde boy while trying to remember where his weapon was.  He silently cursed the fact that these upper floors had no security guards, and few people ever came in after normal working hours, there would be no help coming from outside that door until morning.

"To answer your questions I am simply an errand boy, and I'm here to carry out an errand from my boss."  Spiky said with a knowing smile.

"And so, erm…what's your errand?"  Laguna felt like slapping himself on the forehead, his rifle was strapped under his chair on the other side of the room how could he have forgotten?  Ok,** so**** it wasn't as good as his trusty machine gun, but that was at home with Ellone.  He just hoped it still had rounds loaded in it…was his leg cramping up or was that just him?**

"To kill you." 

Laguna head snapped back to the boy as he focused again on the conversation, and said the only thing possible at that time  "Huh?" 

'Spiky' suddenly launched himself at Laguna, who somehow managed to dive away again, using the leg that was still functioning normally, before the impossibly huge sword that Spiky was swinging in his direction sliced him in two.  Laguna mentally checked his magic stock as he reached his chair and groped for his rifle, all he had were a couple of Triples and a Demi, _'What a load of crap this is, what am I suppose to do with two triples and a Demi?!?!?! Demi magic NEVER works, why didn't I keep up training with drawing and magic?'_  he moaned to himself.   There was only one thing for it, as Spiky slowly started to make his way over to Laguna who was currently sat on the floor next to the chair, he shouted, "**Draw!" Beams of light shot out of Spiky and into Laguna, who was surprised to find himself with 7 Ultimas, _'What sort of person carries around Ultimas?  Never mind Full-life, Flare and Death magic that were there too, what have I got myself into?'_**

Spiky had stopped in his attack; he had his right hand to his head which was shaking slightly, the left still clung onto the sword "What did you just do?"  The boy's eyes seemed slightly unfocused, but it was hard to tell in this poor light.

Laguna blinked, the boy had obviously never been drawn from before, it wasn't the most comfortable of experiences but most people got used to it after a while if they were drawn from enough.  While Spiky was cradling his head, Laguna's hand found the weapon attached to the underside of the seat, and ripped it off the straps that fastened it to the chair; he held it up and pointed at the 'errand' boy.  Spiky shook his head, his eyes cleared and focused on Laguna, the glowing blue eyes narrowed, Laguna could tell that the boy was wondering where he had got a rifle from.  

"Seems like we're on equal footing now." said** Laguna**

"Hardly" he laughed

Laguna frowned, what did the boy mean by that?  Spiky raised the broad sword and charged once more at the man, not stopping as a round** from Laguna's weapon hit his right shoulder and passed straight through it, hitting the window behind him and causing the glass to shatter, but still to stay in its frame.  Spiky smashed the side of Laguna's head with the flat side of the sword, causing blood to trickle down his head as he fell to the ground, bright dots danced around the room to his eyes as he fell.  **

Laguna pushed himself up off the ground, and stayed there on all fours, breathing heavily as his head spun, he could feel Spiky walking over to him, and could shortly see his reflection in the glass next to him as the boy raised up the sword.

"**Triple!**"  He yelled, casting on himself, and rolled away before Spiky could strike.  He wondered briefly if Spiky was playing with him, but quickly pushed the thought out of his head, no one would be playing at a time like this, '_but then why didn't he hit me with the edge of his blade and finish it right then?' he glanced up and look at the boy, he was grinning, blood pouring down his right arm.  Laguna could feel the power of the triple spellwithin him that allowed him to cast three spells, and** hardly having a choice of which ones he could cast he shouted "****Ultima, Ultima, Ultima!" and held out his palm to the blonde boy, who looked slightly confused once more.**_

The boy's look turned to shock as he was covered in a shimmering green light that flashed into the room, it seemly pulled itself apart as it glowed in an eerie radiance that was filled with dancing lights and sparkles.  As the light faded, Laguna could still see the boy; he was still standing where he had been before the attack had started, but before he could take more than one step forward the second Ultima attack occurred, shortly followed by the third.  '_Strange, I always thought that Ultima looked different from that._'  Laguna thought as he started to get up off the floor.

When the final Ultima cleared, Laguna was standing upright, although a bit wobbly from the previous blow to the head, his leg had stopped cramping so he was able to move over to the door as quickly as he could.  He risked a glance backwards and saw the boy glaring at him, his clothes were defiantly the worse for wear, being ripped and scorched in several places, his shoulder was still bleeding heavily and he looked incredibly pissed off.  Laguna's hand froze on the door handle, their eyes locked together, cold glowing blue eyes locked on laughing grey, and for the first time Laguna realised that his eyes were actually that colour, they weren't fake at all.

Cloud charged at the President, who seemed frozen to the spot, '_this has gone on long enough'_, he thought as he ran Ultima Weapon smoothly through the man's stomach, and stayed there, frozen on the spot, his face a mere half a foot away from the man's face.  Cloud looked down; he had attacked harder than was necessary, he could only see the hilt of the sword, the entire blade had passed through the man, and the sword hadn't just stopped at him, it went through the door too.  The grey eyed man continued to look him in the eyes, panic had gone from their midst, fear and pain were rapidly leaving his face as the eyes slowly lost their inner light and closed.   His upper body sagged onto Cloud's, who held him there in shock; he slowly withdrew the blade from the body and door, but continued to hold the man in his free arm.  What was he supposed to do now?

Cloud stepped away from the door and placed the body on the floor, he awkwardly put the sword back onto its magnet on his top using his left arm.  His right arm was dead and useless now, he wasn't sure how he had been able to use it a few seconds ago, but now it was simply dead weight, he was sure it would heal though, the Mako in him would see to that in due time. 

Cloud stood up and stepped over the once most powerful man in Esthar to reach the door, but before he had chance to grab the handle it started turning between his fingers, someone was turning it from the outside!  Cloud quickly glanced around, there was no where to hide, the only exits where the door and the almost-shattered window, he could easily kill whoever came through the doors, but something deep inside him told him to go, that he had done enough killing for one day.  He ran to the window and jumped through it, glass ripped his face and arms as he passed through to the outside, as he started to plummet towards the ground, he cast Tornado to break his fall.  The wind it caused stopping his descent from becoming his death as he softly landed on the road below and raced into the night. ****

Kiros walked down the corridor, he still couldn't get used to the fact everything was made out of glass here and it was still warm.  Ward walked silently beside him, to anyone else who didn't know them, Kiros would been seen to be talking to himself, as he interpreted his friend's expressions and gestures into words that only he and Laguna could hear.

"…but he could still be working!  Its nearly 11.30, he's probably just fallen to sleep at his desk again."

"…"

"I know he's President, but he needs some fun once in a while.  He hasn't been drinking with us in a long time, ever since Raine…"

"…"

"I suppose your right, but I'm still going to drag him down for a drink, whether it kills him or not!"

"…"

"Fine then, whether he kills me or not!"

"…"

"He wont, I'm sure he'll be glad to get out of that office, Ellone said that he still wasn't home when I rang, so where else would he be?  Its strange that his phone was disconnected when I rang, he must have pulled out the plug to use the laptop or something."

"…"

"Yes I know you where there when I rang her, I just thought you might have forgot."

"…" Ward rolled his eyes

"Yes, I know your not Laguna, but you never know he might have worn off on you." Kiros grinned

"…"

"No, he's not worn off on me!"

"…" Ward pointed to a door, Kiros blinked, they had arrived at Laguna's door already?  Oh well, he reached around Ward's arm and turned the door handle, he knew that no sound could pass through these reinforced glass walls and study doors so didn't bother knocking.  He frowned at the door before walking through, there seemed to be a large slit vertically down it at about waistheight, and something red was dripping down the door, he frowned at it wondering what Laguna was up to and what the point of it was.  There was no way he could have prepared himself for what he saw once he walked into the office and turned on the light switch.

The desk had been sliced in two, paper was scattered all over the office, blown around by a strong wind coming through the smashed window.  Blood splatter covered parts of the walls and along the floor; his eyes instantly picking out the biggest pool of blood, a body was lying face down in it.  Kiros stepped back, his eyes wide in disbelief, he shook his head and put his hands up covering his mouth, he continued backing up until something solid stopped him, "No, dear God, no."

The solid thing behind him moved, and walked in front of him, blocking his view of his President, comrade and friend. "Ward?"

"…"

Ward walked over to the body, he held out his hands, and focused all his energy into the spell he was about to cast.  "…" a light engulfed him and then did the same to the body.  A huge wound on his back stopped bleeding so much and healed up slightly at the edges.

Kiros gasped, '_He must still be alive if his body can still respond to Curagas.'_  Kiros hurried over and knelt down next to Laguna, not his body anymore, but Laguna, a living breathing person, no longer a corpse on the floor.  The dark-skinned blade specialist closed his eyes and started to copy Ward "**Curaga!"  He just hoped that Laguna would wake up soon…**

_Author's notes:_

Sorry about that wait for this chapter, its just taken a while to find spare time to get this chapter down, exams, coursework and stuff are taking up WAY too much of my time.  

Anyways, just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed to this fic so far ^_^ without you this never would have carried on for so long, and will continue to as well!  Lots more to happen!!!!  (Oh yea, I am aware that Vincent and Cloud are a bit occ, but don't worry, bout it, all will be explained…) ^_^

Mako_majic


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The New Life Inn

Cloud raced away from the window once his feet hit the floor, upon looking back he saw the light on in the room he had just fallen from. He picked up speed, not wanting anyone to see him. No one looked out of that shattered window and thus no one saw the spiky haired silhouette as Cloud ran into the shadows of the city. 

After sprinting down the road he stopped to catch his breath behind a building, he guessed it was a house, but with his mind racing in time to his heartbeat he wasn't really sure. Cloud closed his eyes for a moment, but those laughing grey eyes of the man he had just run his blade through seemed to be imprinted there, the light fading from them as he looked. Cloud immediately opened his own blue Mako eyes, not sure why the grey orbs haunted him so, it wasn't as though he hadn't killed humans before. 

Cloud looked down at himself to quickly assess any damage his body had taken. He was covered in blood from the window slicing into him, the rifle shooting him, and the President's own blood from the various attacks Cloud had preformed on the man. The blood on his skin could easily wash off and his wounds would heal with couple of casts of Water and Cure from his Master Magic materia. But how he would get it out of his clothes was beyond him, Cloud had never been any good with washing clothes, he always managed to loose, rip or in some way destroy them whenever he tried. No one in AVALANCHE had let him near their clothes when they needed washing, ever since he managed to turn Yuffie's white shorts orange somehow, and then washed Cid's jacket with his weekly supply of cigs in the pockets and ruined them. Neither Yuffie or nicotine deprived Cid had talked to him for over a week after that, and thus Cloud was banned from washing, not that he was complaining or anything. Cloud shook his head, now wasn't the time to take a trip down memory lane, he had to get back to the hotel ASAP. 

Fifteen minutes later a very wet Cloud was stood in front of the New Life inn, the front door was unlocked so he went straight in. A cover story had been prepared on the run over, the simplest ones where the best in his books, either that or one so stupidly outrageous that it had to be true. Cloud ran a hand through his hair; it was plastered to his head apart from a couple of rebellious spikes that had stubbornly stayed up despite the Water magic he had cast. The inn was empty, he gathered that everyone was in bed; it was past midnight after all. He walked up the blue glass stairs, making small puddles with every step, as he made his way to the room that Quistis had rented, and quietly entered it in case everyone was asleep. What Cloud saw once he entered the room, was not what he would have expected in a million years.

Vincent was lying on his back on the floor, the three women were sat on him, pinning him down, and from the bored look on Vincent's face, he had been lying there for quite a while. Selphie was sat on his chest, her knees resting on Vincent's shoulders, Riona was sat on his legs, and Quistis was sat above his head, trapping Vincent's arms under her. Cloud burst out laughing; he had never seen anything so funny, especially when Vincent actually started to _pout_ at him. His hair was spayed out behind him like a fan making him look slightly feminine as he lay there pouting like a little girl. All four of them where lying between the beds in the middle of the room.

"What's been going on in here while I've been gone?" He asked when he could finally control his laughter.

"Close the door and sit down Cloud." Said an embarrassed looking Quistis.

Cloud obeyed, shutting the door behind him and made his way over to a bed, his boots squelching with every step. Vincent didn't looked pleased at all, Cloud bet he was annoyed that his teenage body couldn't throw the three women off him like his older one could have.

"So…? Is anyone going to tell me what's been going on? I'm out for five minutes and I come back to find this." Cloud grinned.

"This is your fault, Cloud." Came the very annoyed voice of Vincent's from his position on the floor, using his enhanced hearing Cloud could pick out Vincent growling at him from deep within his throat. Cloud frowned slightly at the sound but said nothing, waiting for someone to enlighten him on what was going on.

"Well you see, when you went we asked Vincent how long you'd been taking drugs and what sort, but he refused to answer us." Explained Selphie, moving a hand so she could prod Vincent's face with a finger in annoyance, Vincent's growl deepened. 

"And thus they decided to sit on me until I told them about it. Why does everyone want to sit on me? Do I look like a couch?" Moaned Vincent angrily as though he was really as young as he looked, "They did not believe me when I said you did not take any drugs, nor had any need to, so they decided to see if I had any scares like you do and…" Vincent moved his left arm slightly and something shiny caught the light; the golden claw had been unravelled by the girls and was currently being held by Quistis, who was making sure that none of the sharp claws where touching her in case they sliced her hand. '_Was it just me or did Vincent actually sound angry then?_' thought Cloud, as Vincent was not one well known for expressing his emotions to others, well apart from guilt anyway. 

"Now are you going to tell us where you went in such a huff?" Asked Rinoa, taking in Cloud's wet and bloody appearance with wide eyes, she was holding the bandage that had been around Vincent's claw in one of her hands that was still clamped on Vincent's leg.

Cloud raked a hand through his dripping hair as though uncomfortable with what he was about to say, and then started his so cleverly simple lie. "Well you see I wanted some time alone since I was really angry, so I went and took it out on monsters I found at the edge of the city and killed them." Cloud plucked at his stained and soaked SOLDIER top, "I was kinda messy doing it, and so they kinda bled all over me, I tried to wash it off before I came in, but hey I'm crap at washing." Cloud grinned as though embarrassed with his story, though in fact he was quite pleased, the girls seemed to believe it. 

"Now that I can vouch for, Cloud thinks that no matter how cold or grimy the water is, as long as you have soap, you can make the dirtiest clothes clean and fresh." Said Vincent in an annoyed and sarcastic way as he was still being sat on.

"Shut up, Vincent." Cloud snapped. From the tone of Vincent's voice Cloud took it that that didn't work, no wonder no one had let him wash stuff.

"Do you ladies mind getting off me now?" Vincent asked trying to flex his muscles under them to remind them he was still there.

The girls immediately started apologising and jumped off him, Rinoa held out a hand to help him up off the floor before they rounded on the wet Cloud.

"-How could you go out of the city by yourself? -"

"-What are all those marks on your arms? -"

"-Why didn't you tell us you were on drugs? -" 

"-Why didn't the Esthar City Guards stop you from leaving the city? -"

"-What sort of monsters were they? -"

"-There are some dry clothes over there that you can change into. -"

Cloud's head whipped back and forth between the Gaian teens, not being able to follow who was saying what, but still understood what was being asked. "Erm…well, one, I wanted to find some monsters to kill, two, they're none of your business, three, I DON'T USE DRUGS!!! Four, I didn't see any, five…I dunno they're dead does it matter? And six, thanks, I'll get changed in a bit." Cloud said, hoping that that would be enough of an answer for everything they asked, but his responses just led to more questions. 

After about five minutes of constant badgering, Cloud threw up his hands in exasperation, grabbed some of the new clothes that had been bought earlier that day (or was it yesterday? Cloud briefly thought seeing as it was 1230 hours according to his watch) and ran into the bathroom to get changed before they could stop him, making sure that the door was locked behind him as he closed it.

By the time Cloud had taken off the wet and bloody clothes and changed into a simple pair of jeans everyone was laying in a bed. Rinoa and Selphie were sharing one, while Quistis and Vincent had their own beds on the opposite side of the room.

"Hey, where am I supposed to sleep?" He asked once he dumped his old SOLDIER clothes into a nearby rubbish bin, but kept the boots, belt, suspenders and Turk sunglasses on. For a moment he felt as though he had thrown something of himself away in that bin along with the uniform, but quickly shook the feeling away as he turned his back on the bin and faced the others in the room.

"Share with Vincent, or sleep on the floor, Cloud." Answered Quistis from her bed, while watching him with an amused smile on her face, wondering why he wore both a belt and suspenders. Her blonde hair tailing off the end of the bed now that the bun that normally held it together was undone. It made her look a lot younger than she really was.

"I'm not sharing a bed with the...him." Cloud spat, nearly saying traitor before he had caught himself, "I'll just sleep on the floor then." Cloud plonked himself down in the middle of the floor, where he was sure to get in the way of anyone getting up in the night or in morning.

"Cloud, you can't sleep there" Said Rinoa eying him sprawled out in-between the beds on the hard floor, unsure why he had got so worked up over the sleeping arrangements. They were brothers after all, why should Cloud care if they had to share a bed? 

"Yeah, Cloud, move it!" Added Selphie who had sat up to see where he was, pulling the covers up with her. Rinoa yanked them back down so they were covering her too again, pulling Selphie down with them. 

"Nope, I'll think I'll go to sleep now." Cloud said as he yawned and stretched exaggeratedly, then laid down closing his eyes, pretending to be asleep. After a few seconds Cloud's ears unexpectedly picked up faint whistling sounds as he was stuck in the face and on his body by large soft things coming from several directions at once. 

Cloud quickly pulled them off, only to realise it was three pillows flying at him that he had heard, each one had struck him. As he looked around, each of the teens were 'asleep' in their beds, none of the girls had pillows. "I guess, seeing as everyone is asleep, I'll just keep these and go to sleep here." Cloud said to himself, but loud enough so that the others could hear. Cloud rearranged the pillows and made himself comfortable, he was used to sleeping on hard surfaces, and it wasn't until he was nearly asleep did he think, '_Why didn't I just kick Vincent out of bed?'_

********dream*******

Cloud was stood in a forest; a soft melody was being played from an unknown source in the background, the forest and the music seemed somehow familiar to Cloud, but he couldn't say why. Cloud stepped forward; it was as though he was walking through syrup, his body just didn't want to move. His placed his foot back down knowing he was going nowhere, he then realised that he was wearing his normal clothes, the ones Zack had given him so long ago replacing his SOLDIER 3rd class uniform. A familiar weight hung at his back, Cloud pulled it off, it was the Buster Sword. 'Isn't this supposed to be back in…? Where did I leave it? Where am I? Where is that music coming from and why does it sound so familiar?'_ He thought to himself as he fingered the materia that was equipped in it, there were Ice and Lightning materia in the slots; the stones held in place by the natural magnetism of the materia. He placed the weapon back on his top and peered into the trees surrounding him._

The blonde warrior noticed for the first time that he was stood on a natural path, made of compressed soil, and into the distance a bright line shone.

"I know this place." He thought out loud.

"I'm glad you do, Cloud. I know you've been here before." A soft female voice said before starting to giggle.

"Who are you?" He asked looking around for the source of the giggling. 

A bright light flashed out in front of him, causing him to look away and hold an arm over his eyes to try and shield them from it. When the light had dimmed away, Cloud looked up, a few meters away up the dirt path stood a woman. Her back was turned to him, but Cloud knew who it was straight away.

"Aeris?" He asked timidly to the woman in front of him. She wore a long, pink dress, with a small red jacket over the top, brown walking boots could be seen, and her hair was tied into a long brown twist. The white materia wasn't in her hair any longer and for some reason the loss of such a small stone seemed somehow…wrong. 

The woman nodded, her hair bobbing up and down. Cloud laughed for joy, and tried to step forward and hug her, but the syrupy air wouldn't let him, holding him back.

"Aeris, I can't move, could you turn around so I can see you?" He asked pleadingly, wanting to see her face again.

"…No…you don't want to see me…"

"Huh? Why? Of course I do! It's been so long! I haven't seen you since…" Cloud trailed off as he pictured when she died, Sephiroth's sword had run straight through her as he had dropped from above. She hadn't made a sound as she died, but her face had been full of sadness, not for her death, but because she hadn't told Cloud about the white materia and Holy. She was a true heroine; she had died for the planet, with no thought for herself, only the others who lived there. Aeris was the last of the Centra, she heard Planet's cries and words, her death must have been a blow to Planet, almost as much as it had been to him. "This is a dream, isn't it?"

"Yes, Cloud, it is."

"Sephiroth killed you." Cloud said simply, as thought wanting her to confirm it.

"Yes, he did. But that doesn't matter anymore, I have found the promised land."

"You have?"

"Remember how after the long, hard journey, the Centra would find the land of supreme happiness? And once they got there, they would instantly know it?"

"Yeah"

"Well, its seems like I've found the promised land, the long and hard journey was life, and death was our reward, this is the promised land." Aeris held her arms out to the side and turned her face to the sky. "Kinda ironic, huh?"

Cloud laughed, "I suppose"

There was a comfortable silence between them, Cloud was happy she had found what she had always been searching for, but was saddened that she had to die to find it.

"We stopped meteor…I think, I don't really remember what happened in crater, it's like trying to remember a dream. But I know that it was destroyed."

"You stopped it, you all did, I was so proud of you." 

"Was?" Cloud repeated, frowning at the word.

"Yes, but I can hardly blame you for your actions in crater, now can I? You were being controlled, but you still killed some of your friends, they're here in the life stream with me, they told me what happened.**"**

"I didn't mean to!" Cloud begged, wanting her desperately to believe him.

"I know, Cloud." Cloud had the feeling that she was smiling, but with her back turned he couldn't be sure. **"**They asked me to tell you that they forgive you, that they understand, and they want you to stop Sephiroth once and for all." Aeris continued.

"…They really said that?" Cloud asked hopefully, "How do you know all this?"

"Planet knew of all of your struggle to save her, so when they died she let them stay in the Promised Land too. They're the first non-Centra to go there." She said proudly "And of course, they understand what happened, that Sephiroth was manipulating you and everything. That's what I'm here to talk to you about."

"Sephiroth…." Cloud hissed with hate, "Hey, I was able to say his name." He said in a shocked way.

"Yes, right now you're not under his control, and won't be for another half hour." Cloud once again had the feeling that she was smiling.

"How come?"

"For an hour every day Sephiroth has to loose control over you, if he doesn't your mind can be seriously damaged, leaving you nothing more than a mindless vegetable."

"Hey, that's not funny, 'Ris." Cloud huffed

Aeris giggled again at the sound of her nickname, how he'd missed that sound.

"How come I don't remember this?" He asked

"He lets go of you at about 3 every morning, I guess you don't know about it because you've been asleep."

"Oh, I see. But there's not much I can do about that, seeing as I'll be asleep at that time, and I doubt I'll set my alarm for 0300 hours any other time of the day if I'm under his control." Cloud said bitterly.

"Well then, when you wake up, set an alarm for 3, you'll be waking up soon anyway. When Sephiroth gains control over you again you wont remember this, and I think any actions that you take in this small window of time will seem like a dream to you when he takes back over, just as your earlier actions seem like a dream to you now."

Cloud stared at her long hair for a moment, pondering what she had told him, and how she could possibly know all this.

"'Ris, are you really here?"

"Of course I am, don't you know where we are?" 

Cloud shook his head, not realising that she wouldn't be able to see it moving.

"We're in the Sleeping Forest, don't you remember, this is where I last spoke to you in your dreams, or in real life for that matter. Its one of the only places where I can bring you to talk to me."

Cloud realised that she was right, and the music that he could hear was probably the tune from the Lunar Harp as it woke the forest. The forest looked exactly like it did last time she had brought him here; he hadn't been able to move fast then either. He had run on the spot while she had spirited into the light up ahead, and then Sephiroth came…

"Let me see your face." He demanded, suddenly needing to see it.

Aeris shock her head, "No, Cloud, trust me you don't want to see my face."

"Let me see it" He repeated.

Aries's body shook, but from suppressed laughter or tears Cloud couldn't tell.

"Aeris, let me see it!" Summoning all of his strength Cloud forced his body to move forward the precious few meters between her and him. 

He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, as he did so she gasped "NO!" But Cloud's strength won and he turned her to face him. 

"AHHHHHHH!!" Cloud yelled and found himself being dragged away from the forest and into consciousness as he reeled away from her in shock and disgust. 

As the forest faded away into nothingness, he heard a voice yell, "You shouldn't have done it, Cloud. Why did you do it? I told you not to."

__

********

Cloud bolted awake, his body was shaking severely from the horror he had just seen. Aeris's face had been beautiful and gentle when she had been alive, death had not been kind to her. _'No wonder she had kept her back turned to me.' _He shuddered as he looked around the room and the sleeping people within, not wanting to remember what he just saw, but not being able to prevent it. 

Her beautiful green eyes had gone; empty holes had stared out at him, but had somehow still showed shock and sorrow in his actions. Deep gashes and chucks of her soft, flawless skin had gone too, leaving her face looking like an incomplete statue that hadn't had enough clay to finish it and the sculpture couldn't be bothered to smooth out it out afterwards. She had always been pale, but in a good way, what was left of her skin was a dead and sickly white colour. Her lips were blue, no longer the natural rosy colour of life. 

Cloud felt sick, and wished he had never turned her around, she had been right, he hadn't needed to see her face after all. But he still wanted to see her again.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:  Getting to the Ragnarok

Selphie woke up first with the morning light shining in her face; she slowly got out of the bed trying not to get blinded by the sun, while beingcareful not to wake Rinoa asleep next to her.  Her neck really ached, '_Maybe I shouldn't have thrown that pillow at Cloud last night_' she thought as she stepped over his sprawled out body on the floor on the way to the bathroom.  He seemed to be asleep, but it was hard to tell with those dark sunglasses on;why would anyone want to sleep with them on?  Strange, he still had his gloves on too.  Looking guiltily around to see if anyone was watching her,she reached to Cloud's face and took hold of the glasses.  Suddenly a hand flew up and caught hold her arm with an iron grip.  Selphie squeaked loudly, luckily no one woke up to the high-pitched sound, although Cloud did grimace as though it hurt his ears. 

"What are you doing?"  He asked coldly, squeezing her wrist slightly harder

"Erm…nothing…."

"Don't look like nothing, dear."  Cloud hissed, his eyes narrowing behind the sunglasses.

"I…just wanted to see your eyes."

"My eyes?"  He asked obviously shocked, "Why?"

Selphie shrugged, letting go of her grip on the rim of the creepy glasses, "I've just not seen the before, what colour as they?  Are they red like Vincent's?  Can I see them?"

"No"

"No, what?"

"No they're not red and no you can't see them."

"How come?"  She tried to pull her arm out of his grasp, but his hands were strong after so much fighting practise with his overly large broad sword, she couldn't pull away from him.  Selphie decided to simply ignore his grip on her, seeing as she couldn't make him let go anyway.  Ironic how she'd managed to stop an evil Sorceress from the future wanting to compress time, but couldn't remove the grip of a simple cadet.

"Do you always ask so many questions?"

"Do you never answer any questions?"

Cloud gave her a half smile, and then let go of her arm, making her fall backwards onto the floor.

"Ouch.  Come on!!!" she wined while rubbing her wrist, not wanting to rub where it _actually_ hurt in front of him.

"No"

"Cloud said no, Selphie, please respect his wishes."  Said a soft voice coming from one of the beds.  Vincent sat up, the bed sheet falling around his waist as he did so, his golden arm in sharp contrast to his pale skin.  He saw her looking and pulled up the sheet slightly as though embarrassed.  Selphie wondered how he had got the artificial limb, she didn't believe the whole 'car crash' thing he had talked about yesterday, after all, what sort of freak doctor would give a boy a metal claw instead of an arm?

"Oh hey Vinny!"

"Vinny?" he repeated, frowning at her, that name was reserved for AVALANCHE members only to use, her using it sounded…wrong…just as it had done when Zell had called him it only a couple of days ago.

"Vinny, make Cloud show me his eyes!"

Vincent and Cloud looked at each other.  Silent communication passed between the two that Selphie didn't understand before Vincent broke eye contact with his brother.

"Its Cloud's choice of what to do or not to, not mine."

"Vinny!" she wined again

"Don't call me Vinny, my name is Vincent."  He almost snapped

"Why can't I call you it?"

"Oh for Gaia's sake Selphie! Some of us are trying to sleep over here!"  Came Quistis's annoyed voice from her bed, "Leave them alone and get ready, we'll be going after we get breakfast.  Let the little boys have their secrets if they want them."

Cloud and Vincent glared at her '_Boys?!?!'_ Cloud thought '_I'm 22, and Vincent's like 60!_' ****

Selphie sighed in defeat, before grinning madly and running into the bathroom to take a shower and use up all the hot water, leaving none for the rest…that would show them for being mean to her.

_45 minutes later_

Cloud, Vincent and the Gaians were sat around a large table in the dinning area of the Inn.  Each had a full English breakfast of eggs, toast, beans, sausages and bacon, and a mug of tea, bar Vincent who was sat with a coffee and was idly stirring the drink with a glass spoon as though lost in thought, his left arm hidden in the new long black coat he was wearing.

"Ewww" said Selphie after seeing what he was drinking, "How can you drink coffee like that?  There's no sugar or milk or anything in it!"

"…I am quite aware of that."

"Can't you talk like a normal teenager?  Say 'Shut up foo, I like it, so mind your own damn business!'"

"…" 'O_dd__, Barret or Cid would have said something similar to that had they been asked…'_ Vincent pondered but refused to answer to annoying girl.

"Say it"

"…"

"Come on!"

"..."

"Vinny, say something!"

"Go away you little bitch, can't you see we don't wanna talk?"  Chaos snarled from deep within Vincent's throat having sensed his Master's annoyance.  The ex-Turk covered his mouth with his hands in disbelief and embarrassment, then all but ran from the room, leaving the rest, bar Cloud, gaping after him.

"At least he doesn't put lard in it."  Cloud muttered to himself.****

An hour later the food had been finished, bags packed, and the group were on the theirway backto the Ragnarok.  Vincent had returned by this time, Chaos once more under his control and behind his mental barriers that kept the beast at bay.  Vincent trailed behind the others, his natural (or rather unnatural) instincts keeping him protecting their backs as he had alwaysautomatically done with AVALANCHE.  This way he would be the first person to be hit if a back attack occurred.  Although the SeeDs were obviously strong, they were no match for either him or Cloud; therefore he needed to keep his guard up, although in reality he never really letit down.  This lot never would have survived a trip to the Northern Crater, never mind reached Sephiroth had they been back on Planet during the Meteor crisis.  Although with both Cloud and himself laden down like pack chocobos, he knew that their reflexes would be seriously slowed down until they had rid themselves of the clothes and other things the girls had bought the day before.  But he was really trailing behind in case Chaos got annoyed again and decided to butt in, there was no fooling himself and he knew it.

After about half an hour of walking through the high-tech city, they arrived at the Presidential palace, if Cloud had done what Vincent thought he had done the night before then it wasn't wise to be here, but this was where the transport was as so they were too.  Surprisingly the palace looked like it did yesterday, he had been expecting huge crowds of news reporters and policemen searching for clues.  There were a few civilian men about, but not many, that meant thatno one knew about the President's death, they were covering it up, or Cloud hadn't gone through with it in the end.  Having worked at the corrupt Shin-Ra for years, he guessed the cover up story was the most likely, after all Cloud had been a mercenary for a while and so would happily kill if ordered to, as their boss Sephiroth, had commanded.

Quistis had walked up to the front door to ask for them to be let in so they could get the Ragnarok from the private docking bay.  Vincent stood at the opposite end of the glass bridge from her leaning against a low wall, and put down some of the heavier bags.  It all kind of reminded him of the high bridges in Mako reactors, and the long drop to the slums below, he hoped this bridge was safer than those.  He'd heard of when Cloud fell off one and fell to the Sector 5 church beneath – in fact it had been the butt of many of AVALANCHE's jokes, even though it hadn't really been his fault.  His enhanced hearing could easily pick up the conversation Quisits was having with a group of about seven guards, or soldiers, who were blocking the way, filtering it out from the one the other Gaian's were having.  It seemed like the guards ('_Were there any guards here yesterday?_' he didn't know) were refusing them entry, and Quistis was currently trying to get them to allow her to see Laguna ('_The President?'_ he wondered) so he could sort this out and let them in so they could get their aircraft.  '_Not likely'_ he thought as she carried on trying to convince the guards to let them in, '_Laguna's as dead as Hojo by now, and we had to kill him three times before he died_.'   

Cloud sat down with his back against one of the low glass walls, the amount of glass in this city was making him slightly nervous.  He hated glass buildings and objects, it reminded him too much of Hojo's lab in the Shin-Ra mansion back in Nibelheim.  Vincent seemed to be off in his own little world for the time being, Cloud wondered how he could so easily do that, ignoring everything going on around him.  He took out a materia from his Escort Guard, the strong magnetism keeping it in place barely noticed with his enhanced strength, and studied it carefully.  

Materia had condensed Lifestream or Mako inside it, depending on where it was made, which made it glow gently.  But the Knights of the Round materia seemed to be glowing incredibly brightly, much more so than normal.  He sensed Selphie coming over and tightened his fist around the red materia, the girl reminded him of Yuffie, and you could never be too careful with materia when she was around.  

"What's that?" she asked, pointing at his closed fist where the materia could still be seen shining through his gloved fingers.

"Nothing." He re-equipped the materia back into his armour, immediately feeling the effects of increased MP but reduced HP it caused.

Selphie sighed, "Cloud, what's with all the secrets, you can trust us you know.  Garden is like a family, if you can't trust us then who can you trust?"

"I don't have a family." Cloud deadpanned

"What about Vincent?"  Selphie frowned

"Erm…well apart from him of course." Cloud said, mentally kicking himself for forgetting such an important lie.  '_How much dumber could I get?_' he thought angrily, _'I have to at least remember my lies to carry out the mission as ordered.'_

"Right…"

Selphie watched Cloud in silent thought for a while before prodding the Escort Guard, making Cloud move his arm away from her.

"Don't touch it."

"What is it? A bangle?"

Cloud sighed, getting bored of all the 'what' questions he was being asked.  "Its an Escort Guard, duh."

"Escort Guard?  What's that?"

Cloud rolled his eyes, if she said 'what' just one more time…"It protects me from Lighting, Earth, Water and Poison attacks." _'And keeps my trusty Master Materia, Knights of the Round, mastered Double Cut and steal materia safe.'_ He added, fingering each of the orbs in turn.

"How?"

"I dunno, it just does." He said coldly, wanting to drop the subject. The mechanics of status defence wasn't something normally taught in SOLDIER, especially to a lowly 3rd class like him.

"Why don't you just junction your magic to your status defence like the rest of us?"

Cloud blinked at her, '_What the hell is she going on about?_' "Erm…why not?"

"Whatever, Cloud" Selphie said, pinching one of Squall's favourite sayings.

"Why do you keep annoying me?" he asked.

"No reason." Selphie blushed.

Just as Vincent was about to go over and help Quistis out, she gave up arguing with the guards and returned to the others, much to Vincent's amusement, he hadn't gathered her for being someone as stubborn as that, she'd been arguing for almost 40 minutes by now.  

"Follow me." She whispered to everyone once they had gathered closer to her, "They wont let us into the palace, and wont let us see Laguna, Kiros or Ward, so we're gonna sneak in and get the Ragnarok, ok?"  She then calmly walked over to one side of the palace where a high electric fence was erected as though she wasn't about to break in. knowing that the others would follow.  

No one said anything, but instead started to edge their way to the side of the building where the guards wouldn't see them, and although the guards eyed them suspiciously, none moved to see where they were going.  It was a simple plan, climb the fence, stick to the side of the building, and cross the parade area to get to the Ragnarok once they reached the end corner of the building.  Vincent wondered if it would work, his naturally pessimistic nature preparing him for the worst.

Cloud and Vincent eyed the electric fence apprehensively wondering how they were going to get over with all the bags and Cloud's huge Ultima Weapon without making any noise.  Cloud had it worst out of the two, being shorter and having the bulky weapon on his back.  Rinoa had an answer though; she cast Float on each person, and silently lifted them over the fence.  Vincent raised an eyebrow at this, the girl obviously had magical experience, but how had she managed to cast the magic if she had no materia equipped?  He'd never heard of Float magic before, it would have been helpful all those times AVALANCHE had fought monsters that caused Earthquakes, or even back in Mideel.  Cloud and Tifa would never had fallen in the Lifestream is they could've cast that.  He wondered briefly if she was an Ancient, but quickly threw the thought away, Aeris had been the last of her kind.  '_I wonder if it's to do with this Drawing thing that the girl Sephiroth…interrogated… mentioned back in Midgar's ruins.'_  He decided to ask someone about it later, maybe Zell, he probably wouldn't think too much about not knowing about magic, Vincent idly wondered if he ever thought about anything other than hotdogs and fighting.  Realising his thoughts were drifting away from the situation at hand, Vincent pulled himself out of them and focused on the others who were creeping stealthy away.  

Together they slipped from shadow to shadow, slowly making their way to the red ship.  Cloud and Vincent made the most noise, due to the amount of shopping they were both carrying, earning them stern looks from Quistis.  They kept to the side of the huge building, practically hugging the walls as they went, keeping low as not to be seen from a window.****

Rinoa, who was in the lead, held up her right hand as she reached the end of the building, it was a SeeD signal for everyone to stop and get down.   The SeeDs immediately knelt down, Cloud and Vincent knew a similar signal from their Shin-Ra training, so understood what the dark haired girl meant.  They got down like the SeeD, only laid on the ground instead of kneeling, as they had been taught.  By now the Ragnarok could be seen straight ahead, a huge open tarmac area was between them and it, anyone would be able to see them crossing if they looked, it seemed tantalisingly close.  But to a trained sniper like Vincent, it would seem like shooting fish in a barrel had he been on lookout in a window.  He subconsciously felt the rifle Irvine had given him; Heaven's Peace was solidly reassuring under his coat.

An Esthar soldier walked from around the corner after a few minutes, he or she was wearing the usual uniform; white and blue.  The combination would have made Vincent chuckle if he had been the laughing type.  How where you supposed to look intimidating and move stealthily if you practically glowed in the dark and looked like you were wearing a poor man's space suit?

The soldier walked straight past them, training in this world was certainly lax.  The newest recruit into SOLDIER or the Turks would easily have spotted them, but this…_joke _of a man didn't even notice them only a few meters away.  Vincent noticed Cloud stuffing a gloved fist into his mouth, trying not to laugh out loud at the soldier.  

The soldier soon turned around and walked back the way he had come, he must have been on some sort of guard duty.  If all the soldiers were like that, they should have no problems getting to the Ragnarok.  Rinoa motioned for everyone to move closer to her at the corner of the building she had been peering around.  

"There's a gap between here and the Ragnarok, we're gonna have to make a break for it, Selphie first seeing as you've got the keys and know all the codes.  When you get there, be ready for the rest of us, so we can set off ASAP" She whispered.  Quistis seemed happy to be taking orders from the SeeD, as did Selphie, Vincent just couldn't get to grips with the whole leadership thing in this group, it seemed to change every few minutes.  

Selphie nodded seriously in response to Rinoa's statement and moved past everyone to look around the corner, her normally child-like behaviour gone.  Vincent assumed she hadn't seen anyone for she suddenly sprang forward and raced towards the huge red ship.  Once she was halfway across the tarmac, Quistis ran dragging Cloud with her, even though he was carrying bags, he easily kept up.  Only Rinoa and himself were left now.  Vincent prepared to move out once Cloud and Quistis had reached half way, but was stopped by Rinoa's arm as he prepared to leave the comfort of the shadows. 

"Hang on a minute Vincent" she hissed quietly

Vincent kept silent and moved back slightly into the shadows to keep from being seen if someone was watching, he raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what she wanted.

"I know you and Cloud are up to something, so don't even try to deny it.  I can't say what, 'cause I don't know, but you're defiantly up to something, and I plan to find it out.  I also know you did something to Zell's SeeD in training, it's a bit of a coincidence that they both mysteriously vanish then you and your brother appear from no where with weird clothes and talking about places we've never heard from before and take their places."

"I do not believe that this is the time for this conversation."

"Did you even hear what I said?"

"Indeed I did.  You do what you wish to, as will I."  He replied coldly, _'oooooo…déjà vu,' _he thought,_ 'I said something like this earlier, hang on...did I just think that?'  _Vincent pondered thinking back to his conversation with Selphie that morning._  ' My mind is not what it was before Cosmo Canyon, I'm starting to feel as though I am really about 15, scary thought.'_  He could feel Chaos nodding in the back of his mind in agreement.

"Sometimes, I don't think you're 15 at all Valentine."  Rinoa said ironically while starring into his eyes, as though they could give her answers she sought, but quickly broke contact with the red orbs feeling unnerved just looking at them, "Just watch you're back Vincent, because they're others who wont be as open about this as me.  Oh yeah, and don't you _ever_ speak to Selphie like you did back at the inn or you'll be doing push ups until your hair turns grey, understand?"

Vincent ignored her blathering easily enough, she was no match on Yuffie for ramblings and random telling offs, and he could ignore her without difficulty.  Everyone else by this time was in the Ragnarok waiting for them both, so he quickly sprang out of the shadows while Rinoa was still yapping on at him, and ran towards the ship.  The bags weighed him down as little as they had done for Cloud.  Although to his ears they caused a lot of noise compared to his normal movements and made him glance around in case anyone had noticed, all the windows were empty that faced his direction.  And a single closed door was the only entrance or exit to the back of the building he could see.

Rinoa glared at Vincent's back as he ran away, there was something just not right about that boy, and she was going to find out what it was.  Maybe Quistis would help, after all now she was an instructor again she spent a lot of time with students and sorting out their problems, she knew how to be subtle and when not to be.  As though deciding to ask for help lifted a weight of her shoulders, she ran to the Ragnarok with newly found optimism in her heart.  

Balamb Garden, Basement level 1, Commander's office 

Squall was slowly making his way through yet more paperwork, he really needed a secretary or something else he'd never get anything remotely interesting done _ever again_.  He sighed and leaned back in his chair while staring at the simple gunblade on the wall, that was what he had started off with all those years ago, the first weapon he'd ever had.  It would always be his favourite; even the more powerful Lion Heart that was currently resting beside his desk was no match for his first weapon.  As he was reminiscing about the first monster he had ever killed with the gunblade his phone started to ring, he considered ignoring it but in the end picked it up with a sigh.

"Hello, is this Mr Squall Loire? This is Doctor Kisby." An unknown man's voice said on the other end of the line.

"Erm…sorry no doctor, this is Commander Squall Leonhart of Balamb Garden speaking."

"Leonhart?  Not Loire?"

"No, its Leonhart" Squall frowned

There was a silence on the other end as though he'd been put on hold, or the mouthpiece had been covered up.

"Do you know a Laguna Loire?" ****

"Yeah, I do."

"Well he has put you down as next of kin on his personal records, but as Squall Lorie not Leonhart."

"…"

"…Are you still there Mr Loir-Leonhart?"

"…Yes…"

"Are there any Squall Loire's there?"

"…No"

"Well, Mr Lorie is in a critical condition at the Esthar Heart Hospital, and as you are his only living relative would you please come down and see him, we have some things to discuss that would be best to do in person."

"Only living relative?" Squall repeated, "I'm sorry sir but I think you've made a mistake, I'm…an orphan, I have no relatives." '_Especially not bumbling morons like Laguna'_ he mentally added, '_I'd rather be an orphan than be related to him.'_  

"Well, according to his records you are related, would you please come down ASAP.  Mr Lorrie is in room 34A on floor 6."  Squall quickly made a note it on the back of his hand.

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can, doctor."

"Right, oh, and as this is the President we're talking about, please keep this conversation private.  The Esthar government is having a hard enough time keeping everything under wraps, understand?"

"Yes Sir."

"Goodbye then Mr Loire, we will be waiting for you."  There was a click followed by a soft buzzing noise indicating the man had hung up.  Squall slowly did the same.

Squall stared at the phone for a long time after the call; he had no family, no next of kin.  Laguna didn't either, he'd been married once, but she'd died a long time ago, how Squall couldn't remember but he knew she had.  '_I wonder why I was written down as Squall Loire, I bet it wasn't even me the doctor was talking about, it was probably another Squall he wanted, not me…then again Squall isn't exactly a common name.  Maybe I should go, he said they'd be waiting for me…an odd way to put it.'_   He contemplated whether to go or not for a long time, and in the end decided to, Ellone would have wanted him to go, and he _was_ friends with the man…kind of…plus he'd be able to sort out the whole wrong surname thing.  He grabbed hold of the Lion Heart and headed out of his office while mentally checking he was fully stocked up on magic.  

"I'm getting too old for this sorta thing…" he muttered as he headed for the elevator.

_Author's notes:_

Sorry about the long update time, it just been exams and coursework for ages! -sigh- at least the exams are over, and my c/w deadlines in about 2 weeks, the joy….so it'll b back 2 normal after that, yey.  Something just didn't seem…right…about this chapter, so I've spent a while trying 2 figure out what's wrong with it, hope its beta now anyways.

I just wanna thank everyone who's reviewed to this and been pestering me to update!  Especially Vincents-soul, Falcon Strife, the Omnipotent, Chris, Kyle and everyone else who's reviewed or constantly nagged me since I started.

Keep reviewing, u make it all worthwhile!  (even if its just to say that you're reading it) ^_^


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Squall, he is your Father

Squall jumped deftly out of the sleek black helicopter that he had ridden to Esthar in.  Irvine had flown them both to the huge city, having realised something was wrong with his friend; he had taken over the controls of the helicopter and booted out the normal SeeD pilot in a non-too friendly manner. He would have taken Zell as well, but Zell had wanted to get training with the Valentines, and didn't realise how serious the situation was with Squall.  Irvine jumped out of the door as Squall had done, and hurriedly followed him, not wanting to be left behind.  It had taken nearly six hours to get to the small helicopter pad on the roof of the Esthar Heart Hospital from Balamb Garden; they were currently about twenty-five stories up.  They had flown in near silence on the trip there, the only sound in the helicopter had been a short radio communication from Xu saying that the Rinoa, Selphie and Quistis had got back safely from their shopping trip in Esthar.  

Squall wished that something had have come up so that Rinoa could be with him now, he needed someone and Irvine wasn't exactly known for his caring nature.  He hadn't even told Irvine why he had wanted to come here in the first place, and the sniper hadn't asked much to his relief.  

Squall opened the heavy door to the stairs, on top of the high roof, that would eventually lead down to the lower floors.  Behind him he heard Irvine's booted feet stop too.  The steps were made of that pressure-hardened glass that the locals here were so fond of.  The glass was exceptionally solid on these steps, being the dark blue variety; the darker the colour, the harder the glass.  Soft pink-tinged lights glowed overhead, powered by Esthar's mysterious power source, and lit the way down the long, narrow staircase.  Squall could reach either end of the stairwell by spreading out his arms sideways, but refrained from doing so for fear of looking like a simpleton in front of Irvine.  As they jogged down the stairs, hospital sounds could be heard slowly getting louder as they neared a door at the end of the staircase.  

Squall reached the door at the bottom not even out of breath, neither was Irvine; their Junctioned GF's keeping their stamina high.  Neither spoke as Squall opened the misted white glass door and the stairwell was flooded with the antiseptic smell of hospitals and the general hustle and bustle of the doctors, cleaners, patients, families and friends.  They both stepped through the door, but Squall froze, unable to go on once the door had closed behind them.

"Are you okay Squall?"  Irvine asked

"Huh?" Squall blinked a few times as though being brought out his mind.

"I asked if you were okay."

"Erm...yeah, I'm fine Irvine."

Irvine looked at his commander and friend, he didn't look okay, but if Squall said he was… "Come on then, lets find a doctor, I'm assuming you're here to find one." He said and started walking towards a pretty young female doctor who was stood in the white washed corridor reading a chart; there was little hardened glass in the building.  She looked a bit like Quistis; tall, slim and her wavy blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail.  Squall trailed reluctantly behind him.

"Excuse me Doctor…Walker," Irvine grinned looking at her nametag; "my friend here would like a word with you."

"Are you Irvine and Squall from Balamb Garden?"  She butted in excitedly, not waiting for Squall to start talking in her excitement.  

"Why yes we are, Doctor." Irvine said importantly

"Can I have your autograph?"  She asked fluttering her eyelashes at him while holding out the medical chart and a pen.  Her eyes were a light green Irvine noticed, not like Quistis's bright blue.  

"Of course!" He grinned, reaching for the items, only happy to oblige to such a pretty women

"Irvine."  Squall said seriously, he didn't have time for this

Irvine sighed, "Sorry, ma'am, maybe later huh?" he let his arms fall to his sides. 

Dr Walker looked disappointed, but then brightened at the possibility of a 'later'.  "Sure, later then."  She smiled and started to walk down the corridor away from then.

"Hang on a second ma'am!"  Irvine shouted and jogged to catch her up

"Yes?"  She asked

"Squall wanted to ask you something." He pointed and Squall who slowly walked over to them

"Oh yes, what would you like to ask me, sir?"  She said, all professional now that the initial shock of finding two of the Children of Fate talking to her has worn off.

"Is there President Laguna Lorrie here?"  Squall asked

"I'm sorry but that information is classified, no names of patients will be given out to anyone other than family or the authorities."

"Dr Kisby rang me up and told me to come earlier today."

"Dr Kisby?"

Squall nodded

"Oh, you must be Squall Lorrie, of course, come with me."  She turned and walked down the corridor, talking as she went, "I'm sorry about that Mr Lorrie, but I didn't realise you were that Squall Lorrie, I always thought your last name was Leonhart…"

She carried on talking, stopping now and then to shake hands with a patient or give a small hello to another doctor as they went by.

"Lorrie?" Irvine mouthed to Squall

Squall shrugged and carried on walking, not sure why he was letting others get away with calling him this name, but if it let him get to see the President he didn't mind…too much.

An elevator ride and half a dozen corridors later, Squall was stood outside a plain light blue door with 34A engraved on the glass.  A guard on either side of the glass door, but they were wearing civilian clothes acting as though they were just normal men stopping for a chat, rather than protecting their president.  It took a trained eye to notice the budges of muscles under their baggy clothes, and the hardened eyes of solders behind their fake smiles and idle talk.  

Dr Walker excused herself once they stopped, saying that she wasn't permitted to enter the room, and left the two SeeDs at the door.  Squall took a deep breath and quickly entered the room, the disguised guards stopping neither Irvine nor himself from entering.  Irvine closed the light blue door behind him and they both looked around the white room.  

It was a simple room; a bed, heart monitor and breathing equipment were the only large objects there.  A small table was by the side of the bed; it held nothing but a get-well card and a bunch of wild flowers.  A man sat on either side of the bed, Kiros on his right, Ward on the left.  Squall knew that he was avoiding looking at the bed, but wasn't sure why.  He hardly knew the man, but having been in his mind for a while, Squall felt a strange sort of companionship and loyalty towards him.  He felt a hand on his shoulder but didn't turn, knowing it was Irvine's way of comforting someone.  Squall moved toward the unconscious president, and let out a soft gasp.  Wires came out of his mouth and nose; most of his torso wrapped up in heavy bandages sensors were placed above his heart and in various other places on his chest and back.  Laguna's face was deathly pale and had a bandage around his temples and forehead, and he seemed to be dead, no matter that the heart monitor next to Ward bleeped every few seconds showing a steadily but slow pulse.  

"What happened?"  Squall finally managed to get out, his voice strangely as ice cold as it used to be when he was a cadet and new SeeD.  

"We don't know." Kiros said, his voice full of sorrow, "We assume it was an assassination that went wrong.  Nothing was taken from his room and no one saw anything suspicious when it happened, the police have no leads.  But blood, that was not Laguna's, was found around the room where Laguna has shot the assassin and around the window where we assume the person escaped.  The police are not sure who the person survived the fall unless they used some magic like Float."

Ward grunted something which Kiros turned to words for the two teens, "Ward says that it was someone powerful, Laguna only ever had a couple of triples and a Demi, but when we found him he had only _one_ Triple and a Demi, but four Ultimas too.  Whoever this person was, they are strong magically, which means that they must have a GF junctioned to them like Laguna had, although he didn't use it."

"Ultimas?" Irvine gasped, his hat in his hands, not on his head in respect for the unconscious Laguna.  

"Yes, which means that whoever this person…or people, are they strong enough to carry around a supply of powerful magic and survive three Ultima spells."  Kiros nodded, his long braids swinging as he did.

Squall moved over to Laguna's side, and sat carefully on the side of the bed, "What injuries did the President receive?"  He was trying to distance himself from the situation, and he knew it, from the looks he was receiving, the others knew it too.  

"A sword slit vertical through his stomach and back, narrowly missing the spine, just under two foot long.  There were no other serious ones, although he did smack his head against, we suspect, his door as the blade went through."  

Squall stood up and struck a thinking pose, "The only person I know of who carries a blade that wide is a new cadet we have called Cloud Valentine.   Coincidently he was here in Esthar yesterday, but there is no chance he's strong enough to do all that.  Plus he had three SeeD watching him all the time he was here, he couldn't have got away from them long enough to do this."

"There is no such thing as coincidences in our line of business, we'd like to see him." Kiros said harshly.

"He's not strong enough, and only me and the other SeeD who defeated the Sorceress have any Ultimas as far as I know, I'll ask if any of them gave him them when they were here."

"Its okay Squall, I will." Irvine said helpfully as he pulled out a mobile phone and left the room.  He was already punching buttons as he closed the door behind him, grateful for being able to help even a bit.  

The room was silent for a minute before Squall decided to speak again, "How long has he been unconscious?" He looked down at Laguna's still and pale body.

Kiros and Ward glanced at each other, "Since we found him shortly after the attack, at about 11.30 pm yesterday.  The doctors do not know who long he will be like this for; he could wake up today, or in a month or even a year.  He is breathing by himself, but he's lost so much blood and the blade damaged him badly…"

Kiros trailed off into silence for a few minutes when Ward cleared his throat pointedly, causing Kiros to look at him first and then turn sadly to Squall.  "Squall... we have…something to tell you…about Laguna.  Laguna wanted to tell you this himself, but seeing as we don't know when he's going to wake up….  I think it best if you sat down."

Squall raised an eyebrow at both the words and the way Kiros was hesitant over saying them, in the 'dream world' he had always seemed very capable and articulate. Squall sat down at the edge of the bed as asked, a long silence followed as Kiros pulled his thoughts together.

"Well?" asked Squall, getting tired of the awkward silence.

"Erm…I don't know how to put it…. Do you remember when on the Ragnarok we said that you looked like your Mother?"

"Yeah" He did vaguely recalled that he realised, surprising himself really.  The GF's he had junctioned tended to make him forget little details and passing comments like that easily, as well as his past.  "Did you really know her?"

"I did, as did Laguna, and Ward to an extent. …You see…erm do you know who Raine was?"

"Raine? The women who rescued Laguna in Winhill?"  Squall blinked at what he thought was a rather sudden change of subject.

"Yes, she did.  You see Raine had a baby with Laguna, but he had gone to rescue Ellone from Dr Odine, and so missed the birth.  When he got back to Winhill months later, he was told that Raine had died along with the baby shortly after he was born.  Laguna blamed himself for not being there when she needed him most, and so left with Ellone, Ward and myself." Kiros reached over and patted Laguna on his bandaged head gently, as though soothing a child.

"Why are you telling me this?"  Squall asked curiously, but Kiros just held up a hand, indicating for him to be quiet.

"A few years ago someone let slip to us that the baby didn't actually die.  But, because many people in Winhill didn't like Laguna, it was decided that a baby wasn't safe with him and his way of life.  So they gave the baby to an orphanage far away from Winhill, and changed his last name so we could never find him…"

Squall got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he had a hunch he wouldn't like the answer to the question he was about to ask "Who was the baby?"

"You were…"

Irvine had just finished talking on the mobile phone and was heading back the way he had come when he heard a loud strangled yell from the President's room.  He hurried to the door with his Exeter rifle in his hand in case he would have to use it.  But before he reached the blue door Squall had sprinted out, pushed the guards out of his way and ran down the corridor as though being chased by all the demons of hell.  

"What the…?"

Irvine quickly stuck his head into the President's room, everything looked okay in there, even if Kiros and Ward did look a bit upset about something, most probably Squall's shout.  There were no intruders and no one, bar Laguna, was injured.  He decided to follow Squall, it wasn't hard, he just had to follow the corridors with wide-eyed staring people all facing the same way.  Tilting his hat to a few good looking women when he passed them, Irvine sprinted in Squall's wake without stopping until he got to the elevator at the end of the corridor.  '_I wonder which floor he went to?'_  

Squall walked over to the edge of the roof and sat on the cold floor leaning his back against the low wall that surrounded the circumference of the top of the hospital.  He needed some fresh air; it wasn't everyday you were told that one of your dead parents was alive (kinda) and you'd been inside their head, heard their thoughts and lived part of their life.  Squall chewed his bottom lip, a habit that he did when he was extremely worried or confused, a habit that he had picked up from Sis and thought he'd broken through his SeeD years.

What would it have been like if Laguna had found him when he was a baby?  He sat pondering. Why hadn't he looked harder for his son?  Obviously he hadn't really wanted Squall, Sis was enough for Laguna, who needed another child to mess up Laguna's life?  Maybe he would have been 'normal'.  Squall was aware that he was a loner, only just recently having his first real friends and girlfriend rather than simply acquaintances; if Laguna had found him maybe he would be all smiles and happiness like Laguna.  That made Squall shudder; maybe it as a good thing Laguna hadn't found him.  

Squall realised that he was assuming that Kiros had been telling the truth, he could have been lying, but Squall knew deep in his heart it was true.  He thought about Laguna's actions and realised many of them where ones he himself did, like how they sat and stood.  They both had the same build and were about the same height too.  He remembered now that Raine had died giving birth, as well as when Ellone said that Raine had wanted to show Laguna her new baby before she died…Sis knew and hadn't told him…

Lost in thought, Squall never heard Irvine walking slowly up to him, not strutting as he normally did.  But when he put a hand on Squall's arm, Squall jumped and stood up as though burnt, then backed away from the sniper until completely of out his reach.

"Are you okay Squall?"  Irvine asked, "You sure got a pair of lungs on ya, ya know?  Half the hospital heard you screaming." He jested, ignoring how badly Squall had jumped to spare him any embarrassment for letting his guard down so much.  '_If its ignored, it never happened'_ was Irvine's motto.  The cowboy sniper plonked down onto the next to where Squall had been sitting, his back against the wall, and his legs out straight with the Exeter rifle laid across them.  After a few minutes Squall made his way back over and sat next to Irvine, just out of reaching distance, neither spoke.  

Eventually Irvine asked the question that had been repeating over and over in his mind, "What happened back there?"

Squall seemed not to have heard and just as Irvine was about to repeat the question, Squall spoke in an empty voice.

"Remember when we were back at the orphanage?"

"Better than you do." He lamely joked, unsure what the question had to do with what happened back in the room when he had gone.

"Remember when we all used to sit up late into the night and talk about what we were going to do and say when we found our parents?"  He continued as though Irvine had never spoken.

Irvine nodded, he could still picture them all sitting around the beds talking late into the night while Sis watched them all with Squall sat by her side and Selphie by his own.  

"And I always said that I'd ask why they left me there?"

"Yeah, I remember, then one time you said that you didn't care anymore, that they didn't want you but that was okay because you had Sis.  You didn't play that again after that, just listened to us, then when Sis left you refused to even stay in the same room as us when we talked about it."

Squall hugged his legs, and rested his chin on top of his knees, he stared off into nothing.  '_I wonder where this is going'_ Irvine thought as he looked at Squall's emotionless face and childlike posture.

"It seems like I had a parent all this time, and I've known him for a couple of years now…"

"Really???"  Irvine asked, one of the gang actually had real life parents? (Ignoring Rinoa, as she didn't grow up in the orphanage) "That's so cool!  I can't believe it!  Who told you?  Who is it?  Do I know him?"  Irvine jumped up smiling for all he was worth, acting as though he was Zell, his rifle left forgotten on the floor.  "Oh man, I'm so jealous!"  

"Don't be." Squall deadpanned

"What?  Why?"  Irvine knelt down next to the dark haired teen, curiosity, confusion and doubt plainly shown on his face.

"It's…he's…" Squall mumbled something that Irvine couldn't catch

"He's who?"

Squall sighed, not wanted to tell, but having to, "He's Laguna Lorrie.  That man down in the hospital, almost dead!"  Squall found himself standing and yelling, his emotional barriers broken, words flowing unstoppable from his mouth.  "He's the one that left me there in that God forsaken place!  He took Sis from me and didn't bring her back, he knew about me, but never came and got me, or even tell me!  After all I did for Gaia, and it still wasn't enough for him….  Nothing I do is ever enough!"  Squall turned and kicked the small stonewall in his anger, the pain not even registering the cracking sound of his foot braking.  "ITS NOT FAIR!"  He yelled over the side of the wall to the people far below, nothing more than moving dots this high up.

Irvine watched in wide-eyed wonder as the cool and collected Squall raged on the high roof of the hospital, it was something he never would have thought Squall was capable of.  It was very out of character, the prospect of having a parent all this time but not knowing must have really unsettled him for him to loose it this bad.  Something inside of the teen seemed to have snapped, and it kind of scared Irvine.  He had no idea what to do, had Squall been a women he would have hugged Squall until he had calmed down, but with Squall being a man….  Irvine walked behind Squall and placed a hand on his shoulder, Squall spun around and glared at Irvine, but Irvine found little hate, only immense sadness in his face.  

"Come on, calm down Squall, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for why this happened, we just have to ask Laguna…or maybe Kiros, seeing as Laguna is unconscious."

"I'm gonna find out who did this to him and I'm gonna make him pay."  Squall vowed, ignoring his friend. 

Irvine raised an eyebrow at this; obviously Squall wasn't pleased about his parent's identity, but was going to sort out the problem of the attack as though he had known Laguna as his father from birth.  He had to admire Squall's loyalty to his family, even if he had only discovered it a few minutes ago.  He hoped Squall wasn't going to forget the rest of them.  Over the past two years the 'Children of Fate', as people had started to call them, had turned into a family of six, looking out for each other as though real siblings.  

"Do you realise that because Raine adopted Ellone, she's kinda your half sister?"  Irvine blurted out as soon as the thought struck him.

Squall turned and regarded him thoughtfully, Irvine was right, Sis was his sis.  He wondered if he had given the nickname of Sis to her, or if she had told a younger Squall to call her that.  He took a deep breath, "Come on, lets go see if Kiros and Ward can tell us anything else about the attack, I am going to get justice from whoever did this to Laguna."  Squall, his emotions now in a tight reign once more, said as he moved away from Irvine and headed towards the stairwell.  He was cold, he was ice, and he was going to get vengeance.  

_Authors note:_

Soz for the late update everyone, just kinda had a writers block, I knew wot I wanted, but I didn't know how 2 write it, and thanx everyone for the reviews!!! 

(P.S. Thanx Poops 4 proof reading this so it could b up loaded 2 day instead of later ^_^)


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Training

Cloud and Vincent left the Ragnarok in the plains near the entrance to Balamb Garden, and headed up the stairs, as the female SeeD landed the aircraft in a safer position behind the military school.  

"What are we going to do now, Cloud?"  Vincent asked the blonde in a level voice as he watched some younger cadets studying him fearfully.  The word 'vampire' was muttered in that direction a few times too before his red eyes froze them like Jumpings caught in a headlight.  

Cloud opened his mouth to answer when another voice made itself known.

"Hey!  It's about time you two got back! What took you so long?"

Cloud inwardly sighed, he'd almost forgotten about Zell, he turned and put on an obviously fake smile and stood with one hand on his hip and one leg in front of the other.  "Yes?"  He asked, in a voice meaning 'go away'.

"There was a problem with the Ragnarok, we had to wait until we could get it."  Vincent answered seeing that Cloud was in a stubborn mood today.

"Really?  What problem?"

Vincent shrugged.

"Well at least you got some stuff to wear."  Zell said as he looked at Cloud in a simple pair of baggy jeans and a black vest top, Vincent wore black pants, and grey polo neck top and a long black coat.  Each still wore their own boots and gloves; Cloud still has that bandage and weird bracelet thing on his arms though.  Zell had no idea how grateful Vincent was to be covered up again, scars on his arms from Sephiroth were now covered up and a new scarlet bandage tied around his head was made him feel like himself again.

"What happened to your arm?!?!?" Zell yelled as Vincent's shrug made the golden limb catch the light and his eye, "Did they amputate it in Esthar?  I thought it was broken!"

Vincent glanced down at his left arm; the razor sharp claw quite clearly on show to everyone, while everything above the wrist was covered due to his long, black coat.  "No, they did not amputate it there" He said coldly, "Ask Instructor Trepe, she knows."

"Oh well, it's a good job you're back, we need to start your training today, so get something to eat and meet me in the Training Centre in forty minutes okay?"  

'_Zell seemed to have got over the shock quick'_, Vincent thought, '_Maybe he is used to seeing people with serious injuries, thus things like replacement limbs do not affect him as it would others'._  

Neither Cloud nor Vincent made a response to Zell's question, but Zell took it as though they had agreed.

"Right, see you in a while then."  Zell waved and started to leave "Oh! And make sure you have your weapons and some magic stocked up in case we find a T-Rexaur."  The martial artist added as an after thought, before he turned again and jogged away to the east wing of Garden.

"Talking of weapons," Said Cloud casually, "where did you get that rifle from I saw you with the other day?" 

"Which rifle?"  Vincent asked

"Don't play games with me Valentine, I saw it and you know I did."  Cloud growled

Vincent looked at Cloud warily, "Irvine gave it to me once he found out that I used rifles and shotguns."  He admitted as he carefully took Heaven's Peace out from under his coat and passed it over for Cloud to inspect, inwardly disgusted on how easily he gave up, but Cloud was no longer one to be messed with.  

Cloud had used a standard Shin-Ra rifle when he was in SOLDIER, so knew quite a bit about them, although this design was new to him.  Cloud was kind of familiar with it though, because it looked and handled like the Winchester, it had no materia slots but the attack power was quite high, however, it was nowhere near as powerful as the Death Penalty.  Cloud handed the weapon back over to Vincent, who blinked back in response; he hadn't expected it back so quickly or easily.  

"It poses me little threat."  Cloud explained as he studied a strong looking SeeD swirling a long Bamboo staff for any threats as they walked past him. 

_'Cloud obviously does not know about the_ _different rounds they have here, I could change his status easily with some of these and really do some damage.  Well if Cloud didn't have a ribbon equipped that is.'_  

"The only way that could harm me was if you shot me point blank in the head while I was asleep."  

Vincent raised his eyebrow at the strange explanation; did Cloud _want_ him to shoot him in the head or something?   Trying to figure Cloud out was more complicated than attempting to breed a Gold chocobo.  

Together, they made their way to the cafeteria as Zell had suggested.  A few people from their form class greeted them, but not wanting to talk to the children they were ignored, the two 'brothers' carried on walking until they reached the large cafeteria.  It was still an hour or so before lunch so there was no queue, much to Vincent's relief, he didn't like people and so didn't want to spend 10 or 20 minutes standing so close to so many. They quickly choose a meal and sat down, their high metabolisms making them get a much larger meal than was necessary for people their 'age'.  

Talking in a low voice so only Cloud could hear, Vincent asked his nagging question, "Did you do it?  Did you kill Esthar's president?"

Cloud nodded in response, and answered in an equally subdued voice, "Yeah I did…I think.  Someone was about to enter the room so I had to go before I could check to make sure he was really dead.  Unless they had some seriously powerful cure magic, or a handy Cetra nearby, I don't think he would have survived."

Vincent raised an eyebrow, he was stunned, the cold-hearted Cloud hadn't simply killed the intruders, but ran?  Maybe the real Cloud buried deep in his subconscious was starting to emerge, or else Vincent was simply seeing what he wanted to see rather than the truth; that the real Cloud was dead or had never existed in the first place.  One possibility was as good as the other.  As Vincent pondered over this new piece of information his nose picked up a familiar scent coming their way, it was Quistis.

"Hey guys!  Mind if I sit with you?"  She asked, while sitting down on one side of the table between the two teens.

"Well actually, yes, yes we do mind."  Said Cloud coldly

"Oh Cloud, stop being so silly."

Vincent could hear Cloud drawing a deep breath as he tried to calm himself, he hated to be patronized, and the instructor's behaviour wasn't helping Cloud's recent unpredictable temper.  Vincent stayed quiet, when you didn't know what to say, you shut up.  

"So what is it like back in Nibelhiem?"  She enquired with a smile after a few minutes of silent eating.

"Excuse me???" Vincent gasped as Cloud choked on a piece of sausage he had been eating, how did she know about that?? That dammed, evil, sin-filled replica town was Planet, not Gaia!

"You know, the Isle of Nibelheim, where you said you both came from."

"Of course." Vincent said, calm once more, now that he knew what she was on about, but not sure why.  Cloud finally managed to swallow the sausage only a little red in the face.

"So what's it like?"

"It was…erm…cold, not many people."  Cloud explained half-heartedly, not really knowing what to say, he fiddled with his sunglasses as he spoke.

"Where about is it?  I've never heard of the island."

Cloud and Vincent glanced at each other, "I do not know." Said Vincent finally, "We wandered a long time before finding Garden."

"Really?  For how long?"

"What is this?  The Turk acceptance interview??"  Muttered Vincent****

"The what?"

"Erm…nothing" Vincent said, mentally kicking himself .

"What are the Turks?"  Quistis frowned having never heard of them before.

"…"

"So what was it like living in Nibelheim?"  Quistis changed quickly back to the original subject, as though wanting to catch them off guard.

_'Hell, quite simply, it was hell.  I wanted Hojo to end it everyday, but sin made me carry on through the pain and suffering as a penance for letting Lucrecia and her baby go to their doom.'_  Vincent mentally answered, not willing to say it out loud, especially to this blonde instructor.  _'I wonder what all this is about.'_  He subconsciously rubbed his golden limb as he thought of the man who had given it to him.

"Vincent, don't we have to meet Zell at the Training Centre now?"  Cloud asked causally as he started up get up from the table.

"Yeah, lets go."  Vincent followed Cloud out of the cafeteria, leaving the empty plates behind.  Silently thanking Cloud for interrupting the conversation, whether on purpose or not.  

Quistis watched the two cadets leave the cafeteria as Rinoa walked over and sat down next to her.

"So?" the Sorceress asked

"I agree, they're hiding something"  

_Training Centre entrance, 1300 hours:_

"Okay, time to get started, I know you haven't been here long, but I'm guessing your both very good at your weapons from watching the way you handle and carry them."  Zell had fallen into instructor mode, it was easy, he just had to pretend he was Quistis…minus the dress and whip.  He pulled out a cola can from his pocket and placed in on the ground; the can had a hole through the 'O'.  "Irvine says that only someone who was incredibly lucky or incredibly good could shoot this."  He looked pointedly at Vincent who had shot the can himself only the day before, but it seemed more like weeks.  "So we're gonna skip all the boring, 'how do you hold a sword?' crap, and get right into the good stuff!  We're gonna kick some ass, fight monsters and see how good you are."  Zell thrust a fist into the air and lead Cloud and Vincent deeper into the training centre.  Zell rambled on about some monster called a T-Rexaur that Cloud remembered him mention earlier, he was saying that they had to Junction or cast sleep on it, but Cloud hated putting status changes on monsters, it made it too easy for someone with his skills, so that wasn't likely to happen.    If anything, he needed a handicap, for the monsters to stand a chance.

After a minute or so of walking Cloud's and Vincent's ears picked up a faint rustling to their right from behind a bush.  Together they abandoned Zell and stalked towards it, wanting the first strike, not noticing Zell's puzzled face as he wondered what they were doing, not having an enhanced body like Cloud or Vincent.  Having done similar things together many times in the past, they both knew what to do.  Cloud moved around to the right of the bush, while Vincent stayed on the left, weapons drawn or cocked ready.   After a mental count of three Cloud quickly sliced the bush in half whilst Vincent let off rounds into it.  A loud screech was given off, but was quickly cut off from a deep thrust of the Ultima Weapon.  A thud was heard and a large pool of blood quickly grew out from under the bush.  

Cloud reached into the shrubbery and pulled out a couple of tentacles, "Well that's one less Grat to worry about." He joked as the tentacles dissolved from his hands as the rest of the monster did hidden in the leaves.  "Lets see if we can find any more."

Zell stared at them both, his mouth hanging open, "How did you do that?"  He stuttered, as Cloud placed the sword back onto his top, and Vincent reloaded Heaven's Peace.  "How did you know it was there?  You two work really well together, its like you can read each others minds or summert!"

Vincent glanced at Zell, the attack hadn't exactly been complicated, stand by a bush and shoot or stab, how more simple could it be?  The monster had not even known they were there.  Just as Vincent was about to point this out a loud roar echoed around them, its source dead ahead.

"Here we go! A T-Rexaur!! About time too."  Grinned Zell as he sprinted on ahead, disappearing around a vegetation-covered bend in the path.

Vincent glanced at Cloud who shrugged his shoulders back at him, and then headed out of sight too.  Vincent sighed and followed, his jet black hair and coat streaming out behind him as he ran.

Vincent's crimson eyes widened, as he saw the famed T-Rexaur around the corner.  

"Damn, a dinosaur!"  Cloud gasped as he eyed up the monster, "This is gunna be fun!"  He then grinned.  Cloud drew the Ultima Weapon and quickly got into his fighting stance, he stood with Zell on his left and Vincent on his right, all three faced the huge monster ready for a fight.  

Vincent stuck first, two rounds going into the kneecaps of the monster, the T-Rexaur howled in pain and lunged for Cloud as Vincent reloaded the two-shot weapon.  Cloud easily dodged the huge teeth, his evasion higher then the monster's agility and sliced it's jaw with the sword as he rolled away, causing blood to splatter over himself and Zell who were now both on one side of the creature, and Vincent was on the other.  It was surrounded.

"Good one Cloud!" Zell yelled as he consternated on his stocked magic and cast Blizzaga on the T-Rexaur, not wanting to get closer to the monster to use his fists in case it attacked him.  The monster howled in pain as its body was covered in ice for a moment before the ice shattered into tiny crystals onto the floor.  

The T-Rexaur lashed out angrily with its tail, throwing Zell about 20 metres due to its speed and strength, but Cloud, with his own enhanced strength jumped over the tail while leaving the sword dangling down below him.  The T-Rexaur cut off its own tail as it swept the limb under Cloud and through the blade of his weapon.  

Zell decided this was a good time to check its stats and so cast Scan on the T-Rexaur, in his mind's eye a list of facts came up about the creature, which he shouted out to the others.  "It a level 67 monster; Ice, Sleep and Blind are the most effective and Poison the least.  It has high HP; over 20,000 points left, but that's less than half of the original."  Zell blinked a few times as though coming out of a trance as the magic wore off.

The monster, knowing its defeat if it stayed started to back off, but mercy was no longer in Cloud's vocabulary and he followed its retreat as Vincent shot at it's hard-skinned back.  The T-Rexaur stumbled with the rounds lodged in it back, but carried on.  Vincent was prepared to stop and let it run from the battle, but from Cloud's and Zell's faces they weren't, so the sniper carried on fighting too.  Vincent kept back slightly, andmade sure he wasn't even _almost_ hit, his limit break was nearly full and he didn't think that the SeeDs would appreciate a demon terrorising Garden.  There was no telling what it might do, once transformed,Vincent had no control over his body.

Cloud thought for a second, if it was vulnerable to Ice, he could either cast Ice3 or summon Shiva, he still had the summon materia, in fact he had most of the summons in his room, having been the nominated materia and items keeper in AVALANCHE he kept everything until someone needed it.  But before he had a chance to cast it, he felt himself slowing fading and going 'in-between'- the place where Summoners went when they called a Summon from its materia.  It was cold anddark here, floating in nothingness, the battle they had just left showningin front of them as though on a large TV screen.  Cloud frowned, he hadn't cast anything and Vincent didn't have any materia other than Restore… which left Zell.  He tuned to see Zell floating in the nothingness next to him, a grin on his face as he watched the 'screen' in front of them.  

The 'screen' showed the watchers a tall block of blue ice, inside it was the blue haired summon, Shiva.  Cloud felt his jaw drop, only he had Shiva materia, Cid had had the one born when Cloud's had been mastered, so where had Zell got Shiva from?  Shiva's eyes opened and locked onto the T-Rexaur, the ice shattered from her as she prepared her magic.  With a wave of her hand and a snap of her fingers the monster was covered with ice, which then splintered into thousands of pieces.   Shiva then faded away, but not before she looked directly at the teen who were watching from 'in-between', she seemed to give them a sad smile as she went back to where she came from.  _'That was odd,'_ Cloud thought, _'She's never done that before'._

Cloud, Vincent and Zell came back into the physical realm of Gaia just in time to see the T-Rexaur keel over and die, within a few seconds the monster started to fade away, _'Maybe the bodies go 'in-between'_' Cloud thought as it slowly disappeared, the  tail and the blood splattered around the Centre, and on the fighters, vanishing too.  

"Wasn't that so cool?"  Zell shouted pounding the air above him with his fist as he danced in a victory circle.  

"Zell, there is blood on your face."  Vincent stated as he replaced the ammo in Heaven's Peace, while indicating where Zell had banged his head, when the T-Rexaur's tail had knocked him over, with a nod of his head.  

"Is there?"  Zell put a hand on his tattoo, "Ahhhhhhhh! I'm bleeding to death!"  He yelled

_Esthar, Dr Odine's Laboratory:_

"Dr Odine, here are the blood samples from the failed assassination of President Loire that Squall Leonhart sent you."  An aide said while putting a sealed glass container of very dark blue on one of the lab tables.

"Very good Zuzan, zis will be interestzing, who zhot ze President?"  The man chuckled to himself as he peered in the dark container.  "Look at zis, ze blood glowz in ze dark."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:  What to do… 

A loud and high-pitched ringing woke Cloud up from his dreams in his dorm room.  To his Mako-enhanced senses the noise was almost unbearable, covering his ears he searched his room trying to find the source of the noise.  Eventually he found it, his PHS alarm was going off in his bag next to a mastered HP plus materia.  After pressing a few random buttons in his haste, the blonde finally managed the get the evil device to switch off and he made his way back to the bed, sighing with relief.  _'What time is it anyway?  And why in Holy's name did I set that alarm?'_  Cloud wondered as he checked his watch, it was 2:50 in the morning! '_I'm gonna kill Zell, I bet he set the stupid thing yeah that was soooo funny.  Holy! I'm gonna get the Ultima Weapon and ram it so far up his…'_ Cloud continued muttering to himself in his head, not really knowing why he was blaming Zell, but doing it nether the less.****

Cloud decided to get up properly and so quickly got dressed, his SOLDIER training not letting him go back to sleep but to go do something with his extra conscious hours.  Cloud grabbed his sword, armour and sunglasses as left his small room.  He quickly ran his fingers through his hair instead of brushing it as he left the shared area and started to leave the dorm corridors.  As he walked, a sudden chill ran though his body when the Garden's huge clock stuck the hour of 3.  The shiver froze him to the spot in the hallway for a split second, having felt as though he had had a bucket of ice-cold water thrown over him. 

Cloud shivered and looked around curiously, where was he?  It was like waking up from a dream, he wasn't sure where he was, had he been sleep walking again?  _'Oh yeah, I'm in that Garden place-thingy bob aren't I?'_  Cloud thought as he started walking down the somehow familiar corridor lined with identical doors, curiosity getting the better of him.  He was glad he had set that alarm on the PHS or else he would have slept through this hour of blessed freedom, he allowed himself a small grin.  Cloud decided to visit Vincent; the older ex-Turk would have a better idea of what to do now than him, plus he was the only person Cloud knew on…wherever this place was.  As it was, Cloud could barely remember anything since he entered the Northern Crater and briefly in Cosmo Canyon, and everything thathe had done afterwards was like remembering a dream; damn near impossible.  ****

Five minutes later Cloud was stood outside a plain dorm door, sunglasses in his pocket; not knowing why he had been wearing them when it was dark outside.  He knew Vincent was behind the door, he could sense the Jenova cells in the sniper, and was drawn to them in the same way he had been drawn to Sephiroth when the Reunion occurred up in the North.  The cells called tohim, Cloud figured that he'd be able to find the sniper almost anywhere if he really tried, he guessed Vincent's Jenova cells would allow Vincent to find him as well if he really wanted.  Cloud slowly opened the door and slipped though the gap, the main eating/study room was clean and almost identical to his own shared one, he ignored it as he headed for Vincent's bedroom and, without knocking,let himself in. 

Vincent seemed to be asleep in bed, but as Cloud walked closer to the ex-Turk, he jumped out from under the covers and quickly got into a defensive stance before he realised who it was.  Golden claw slightly drawn back, and his fist drawn up against his chest, as though expecting a fight. ****

Relaxing only slightly when he saw who it was, Vincent warily asked "What are you doing here Cloud?  Its 0310 hours."  He kept his eyes fixed on the blonde teen as the person in question ran a hand through their hair and grinned at him, but still kept his claw and hand ready justin case they were needed.

"Hey Vinny!  Relax, it's just me!"

Vincent raised an eyebrow, '_What in Planet's name is Cloud up to?  If he thinks he can catch me off guard he's got another thing coming!_'

Cloud wanted to run over and hug Vincent as he was so glad to see the AVALANCHE member, but Vincent's wary stance and watchful gaze made Cloud realise that Vincent wasn't happy he was there.  Was he actually _scared_ of Cloud?  Cloud shook his head slightly _'Of course he's not scared of me, what could possibly scare Vincent? …well apart from Yuffie on a sugar rush.'_ He involuntary shuddered at the thought.

"…Cloud…what….are you doing here?"  He asked, being uncomfortable with the situation.

Cloud grinned  "To come see you, it feels like I've not seen you in ages!"

"But you saw me mere hours ago, Cloud."

"Did I?  I can't remember." Cloud rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, his memory wasn't well known for being good or accurate. 

"Cloud?"  Vincent asked slowly, recognising the gesture from when Cloud was 'normal'

"Yeah?"

"It is really you isn't it?"

Cloud ginned "Of course!"

Vincent's scarlet eyes widened at his reached over and poked Cloud in the chest with his normal hand.  When Cloud just laughed rather than go ballistic, Vincent realised the real Cloud was back, and felt ashamed to ever think the puppet Cloud was the real one. 

"How…how did this happen?"  Vincent asked in admiration, maybe there was hope after all

"Aeris told me in the Sleeping Forest that I was free for an hour a day, so I set the PHS to wake me before hand."

"Aeris?"

"Yeah"

"…Told you in the Sleeping Forest?"

Cloud nodded, "Yeah, I dreamt it, but I knew it was real, just like when she told me she was going to the City of the Ancients."

Vincent sighed and sat down on the ruffled bed.  "Let me get this straight, a dead girl came to you in your dreams and told you about this hour, then you got up and came to see me?"

Cloud's eyes darkened slightly on the words 'a dead girl', but nodded once more.

"Why?  Why come to see me?"  Vincent asked, unsure of how he could be of any help to Cloud at this late stage in the game.

"I thought you might be able to help me get out of his control.  I know I'm doing…things… when in _his _control that I wouldn't normally do, but I still feel like me…it's hard to explain.  I can't do it without help, and as you're the only one who won't cart me off to the funny farm. I guess we're stuck working together."

Cloud sat down on the floor with his back against the door and his legs stretched out.  Ultima Weapon laid by his legs in easy reach.  It seemed weird getting help off a guy older than you but only looked 15 or 16;thinking about it, actually Vincent looked kind of like a red-eyed, semi-spiky haired Zack when Cloud first joined SOLDIER as a cadet.

Both teens looked at each other, blood red eyes meeting Mako blue, "Cloud, I do not know how I can help you."  Vincent finally admitted, "If we leave, SeeD would surely come after us, if we went back to Planet, Sephiroth would just send you here once back under his power.  If I just tie you up and leave you somewhere until this hour comes again, Sephiroth would come and see why you were not following his orders and just force you back under his control." 

Cloud knew what Vincent was saying was true, whatever happened he would put people in danger, if he continued this way he would be hurting innocent people, and if he ran then it would be Sephiroth killing, not him, and Sephiroth wouldn't just hurt a few people, he'd destroy entire towns and cities if annoyed, Nibelheim rose quickly to mind.

"He could even take away this hour if he wanted to, I'm guessing that it is necessary or else he would not allow you this freedom."  Vincent continued, making the sentence more a statement than a question. 

Cloud nodded, "Aeris said that I might be 'nothing more than a mindless vegetable' if he didn't let go for a while, but I don't think that Sephiroth would really care, he seems to have a thing about screwing up my mind."  ****

Cloud glanced at his watch next to his equipped armour, "I've only got half an hour left…."

Vincent nodded, "Perhaps you should tell the Commander or someone, then it would not be just me preventing you from attacking people."

Cloud looked at Vincent once more "Now that depends if they have the death penalty here or not."  He had always wanted to die in a heroic way, in a way to be remembered long after he was dead.  "I don't want to die like that…but I guess if that's the only way to stop Sephiroth…" Cloud sighed in acceptance.  "They would kill me as soon as they realised.  Vinny, if they come after me be on their side, don't defend me.  They don't know how strong I am, I'm still level 96 in this body, and Squall is the strongest person here by far, bar us, and he's only at 73, they'll find it hard to kill me, they'll need your help."  ****

Vincent opened his mouth to answer when their ears caught the sound of a light pair of footsteps heading over to the door.  Both teens stayed silent as Cloud moved away from the door and held the Ultima Weapon ready in case the owner of the feet was a threat. 

"Erm…Vincent...is that you talking?  Would you mind keeping it down please?  The SeeD written exam is tomorrow and I want some proper sleep before it…"

Cloud raised an eyebrow at Vincent, "Who is it?" he mouthed.

"Frit, go to sleep."  Vincent raised his voice to be heard through the door.  Muffled muttering could be heard before the footsteps faded away into the adjoining room. 

"It was the boy whom I share this double room with."  Vincent explained  "He wishes to partake in the SeeD exam tomorrow, there are two dates for the exam, tomorrow, or rather today, and later on in the week."

Cloud nodded, "That sounds familiar somehow…"

"You asked Zell to sign us both up for it once we defeated that T-Rexaur in the Training Centre.  Although you didn't exactly ever hit it."  Vincent said as though asking for an explanation.

Cloud shrugged, it seemed to becoming a new habit of his.  "Well you kept back and stayed well outta range." He pointed out, the memory of the fight suddenly coming back.

Vincent didn't answer. 

"Was it…Chaos?"  Cloud asked while plucking at his jeans, not sure if he wanted an answer or not.

"Yes, I did not want to loose control here, not with all the children around."  _'I could not bare any more sin' _he mentally added.

"…You know Vincent, this is possibly the longest conversation I've had with you…ever." ****

The two looked at each other for a moment, before Cloud broke the silence, "You should talk more, you know?"

"And you should talk less, you know?"

Cloud grinned in response.

_06.45, Vincent's room:_

Cloud stretched as he woke up with the morning sun in his sensitive eyes, then rubbed his neck to get rid of a cramp, '_Where am I?'_  He looked around suspiciously, as he started to get up off the floor where he had fallen to sleep sat upright against a wall.  '_Is this Vincent's room?  How did I get here?'  _He moved over to the bed where Vincent, upon hearing Cloud's movements, had just woken up and was watching him through tried eyes. 

"Traitor, what am I doing here?"  Cloud demanded angrily

Vincent shrugged

"Man, your not even worth the effort."  And with that, Cloud grabbed his sword and left the room.

"…Goodbye Cloud…" Vincent sighed softly to the closed door.

_14:00, Upstairs classroom number 15:_

"Now everyone who is going to take the SeeD written exam, please stay in your seats, people who are not taking the exam you are free until your next lesson."  Said Instructor Xu to the class of potential SeeDs.  There was a mad rush for the door by the majority of students, a few who she would have thought were going to stay left hesitantly, while others she had thought would leave, stayed.  Two such people were the new cadets Cloud and Vincent Valentine.  Xu frowned and walked over to the pair as Quistis started handing out exam papers.

"Why are you two staying? You both haven't been here for even a week yet, Zell says that you have talent, but neither of you are ready for SeeD, maybe in a year or two kids, but not yet."  She said in a low voice. 

"According to Balamb Garden SeeD entry rules, you need only be old enough to take the test, there is nothing stating that we must have been in Garden for a specified number of days, months or years.  Or even at a high level, only that you are in this Garden and are willing to take the exam."  Said the younger teen, Vincent.  Cloud simply glared at her while adjusting his equipped armour. 

Xu felt her mouth almost drop at the boy's words; no one had _ever_ stated Garden rules to her before who wasn't in SeeD or an instructor.  Most SeeDs only knew the most common Garden rules like when lights out wasor not to draw magic from team members, but if the guy was here for only a few days and already knew the rules…****

Smiling Xu nodded and walked to the front desk to inform everyone they could start the exam, and to remind them that any cheating would result in them failing the exam on the spot. 

It was really quite sad how there were only six sitting this exam, when she sat hers there had been nearly 30 cadets.

Cloud gazed at the exam paper once he turned it over, _'Why would anyone need to cheat on this paper?  The written exam for SOLDIER 3rd class was a lot harder than this!  I would've killed to get this exam when I tried to get into SOLDER 2nd class.'  _ 

Vincent was thinking along the same lines as he read question 1; 'Antidotes cure Poison.  True or False?'   He rubbed his head in exasperation, to think he had thought this might be challenging…

Vincent knew he had all the answers right until he came to question 20; 'Mesmerize Blades can be stolen from a Mesmerize.  True or False?'  Vincent stared, was this a trick question or something?  He didn't even know what a Mesmerize was, the answer really seemed too obvious to be true.  He looked back at his other answers having decided on the age-old way on how to answer questions you didn't know the answer to on papers like this.  Most of the answers seemed to be False, so,after circling 'True' Vincent stood up and handed in his exam then left the room not noticing the wide eyed stares of the other examinees most of whom were still on question 7.

_Cafeteria:_

Vincent sat in the cafeteria at one of the tables at the back of the room, slowing sipping a black coffee as he watched students talk past, waiting for Cloud to finish; he didn't have to wait long for the sword master to come. 

"We've all been given a week off until the field exam."  Cloud said as he sat down opposite Vincent, a bottle of vodka in his hand.  "I say we get outta here and…get on with the mission, we're heading to Balamb." He added lowering his voice, not that anyone was close enough to here them talking anyway.  

Vincent stared at Cloud's drink, "Do you really think that that is acceptable for a school?  You are not even old enough to drink yet."  He frowned, ignoring what Cloud had just said, there was no point arguing his decision, it was already made.

Cloud frowned, his gloved hand tightening on the bottle so much that a crack formed around its neck before be realised and stopped before it shattered. "I'm 22, Vincent, with an incredibly high tolerance to alcohol due to Mako."

"No Cloud, you're a 17 year old boy."

"Well you're a teenager drinking strong black coffee, you can't do that anymore else you'll get on a caffeine high…like a vampire Yuffie."

Vincent raised an eyebrow.

Cloud sighed and put the drink on an empty table next to them, "Fine then, it's not mine."  He grinned and stood up, "I'll meet you outside in twenty minutes, be ready by then, don't make me come get you."  He 'jokingly' threatened as he eyes flashed in a dangerous warning to be there. 

Vincent made no movement or sound to acknowledge the teen's words, but Cloud knew Vincent would be there.  Cloud spun his Ultima Weapon skilfully onto his back as though he had just killed an enemy and turned from the table.  As he calmly strolled out of the cafeteria, Vincent noticed with a slight smirk the number of girls watching Cloud walking sigh, and the number of boys with poorly hidden jealous looks on their faces.   

Vincent downed his coffee then stood up to leave and get ready, but as he left the room a shrill voice shouted above the noise of the students, "_WHO_ THE HELL HAS BEEN DRINKING ALCOHOL IN HERE?!?!?!" The sniper gave a half smile and carried on walking, loading Heaven's Peace with armour piercing ammo as he walked.

_15:10, Main Entrance:_

Vincent waited near the exit of Garden for Cloud to come, it had only taken him less than ten minutes to pack for a week's 'trip', years of travel with the Turks and AVALANCHE making him a speedy, but thorough, packer.  He was wearing a long, brown coat, black combat trousers and brown walking boots.  Perfect clothes to travel or to be camouflaged in, his hair was loosely tied back with a band, and his rifle hidden under his coat along with a healthy supply of ammo.  After a few minutes of waiting, Cloud turned up ready to leave, a bulging pack slug over one shoulder and wearing similar clothes to his old SOLDIER uniform Vincent noticed.  Baggy blue jeans, a navy vest top and brown hiking boots, but on Cloud's head was a black cap with a flaming meteor stitched onto the front.  It seemed like something of the old Cloud still wanted to look like the deceased SOLDIER Zack, but the cap…

Cloud caught Vincent staring at his new cap and gave it a tweak, "Cool, huh?" he grinned, "Got it in Esthar, couldn't resist.  Selphie spotted it, wanted to buy it for her boyfriend." 

Vincent just picked up his bag and started walking down the road to Balamb, trying to ignore the horrific images in his mind of Meteor, Holy and the Lifestream on Planet, and the people of Midgar being blasted to dust with the sheer force the three greatest powers known to man colliding.  ****

_Esthar, Dr Odine's Laboratory:_

"Zwall, zis blood that you zent me, it iz from the azzassin, is it not?"  Dr Odine asked Squall as he stared at a blood sample through a powerful microscope.

"Yes…why do you ask?"  Squall said, curiosity overcoming his desire not to talk or ask questions. 

"Where iz thiz zample from?"  He asked instead of answering Squall's question

"We got in from one of the walls and what was left of the window, Ward collected it for us, seems that Laugua shot the assassin." Irvine said, as he lounged lazily in one of the chairs in the corner of the room, his rifle in pieces on his lap at he casually, but carefully, cleaned it. 

"With what?"

"His rifle, duh, AP rounds I recon."  Irvine said as he frowned at the doctor.

"Hmmm"

Squall and Irvine exchanged looks, Squall had had enough of this, all Odine was doing was asking questions that had not real point.  Just as Squall was about to grab the annoying little man and shake some answers from him, Dr Odine turned from the microscope and faced the SeeDs. 

"Zis blood is highly poisonous, if any of you touched it, you would be dead by now.  The zlightest touch would most likely zend you into a permanent coma.  Let me dementrate." Dr Odine shouted to his assistant who was out of the room "Zuzan!!  Bring me a specimen!"

"Yes Doctor!"  A voice shouted back.  Within a few minutes the female assistant who had given Dr Odine the sample a few hours before, came in carrying a large wire cage with both hands; an adult dog cowered inside it.

Squall frowned, "I thought that all animal testing had a worldwide ban."

Dr Odine glared at Squall before turning back to the black Labrador, "Zience does not care for your lawz."

Irvine had put his weapon back together by now, and hoisted it onto his shoulder as he walked over to the cage and stroked the dog through the bars.  "Why not simply use monsters?" he asked.

"Animalz have clozer DNA to uz than mere monterz not even from zis planet but from itz moon." Dr Odine explained as he used a blunt metal tool and slowly covered it with the blood sample left in the glass casing. 

Squall gazed at the dog whose tail was wagging happily due to the rare petting it was getting, '_Rinoa would kill me if she ever found out we were about to do…'_ he thought as his eyes followed the tail's movement. 

"Would _you_ rather test it Zwall?"

"…No" Squall said rather quietly as he turned his head away from the blissfully ignorant animal.

Dr Odine had finally coated the metal object with enough blood and moved over to the cage.  Irvine moved back as though the brilliant, but crazy, scientist was trying to get him.  The dog whimpered as he moved back and the petting stopped. 

Dr Odine smeared some of the blood on the tool onto the dog's nose.  The dog immediately licked it off.  "Now we wait"

Within a few seconds the dog started to sway on its feet, its dark eyes seemed to glow for a moment before he fell sideways onto the bottom of the cage.  The eyes flicked once more, as though a light had turned on behind them, then they went dim, much dimmer than before the 'experiment', Squall and Irvine recognised it as the look of death.  Dr Odine confirmed their guess as he felt for a heart beat and found none. 

"Much fazter than I had anticipated…I zall do zome testz and tell you vot I find."

_Author's note:_

I am soooooooooooo sorry for the long wait for this chapter! It was gonna be longer, but I thought that I beta but this up soon!  The reason I didn't was because my proof-reader (who shall remain nameless) said that it was "boring and repetitive" and basically that no one was gonna read it as it was so pathetic.  So I got all angry with my lame-ness and poorness of this story that I found I just didn't wanna carry on.  But then I still carried on getting reviews although I hadn't updated, so finally thought "screw u, putting me down for no reason! Some people actually like this! (I'm assuming u do if u review)" and thus chapter 18 was born!!!!!!!

The next chapter hopefully shouldn't take nearly as long as this one! Even if I have make it shorter than what I want, don't wanna leave it so long again.   Tell me if u think I should carry on or not!  Or if u have any suggestions or comments to make, don't hesitate to review or e-mail me!

P.S. No animals were harmed in the making of this chapter, but strangely three tables in the cafeteria were destroyed along with a deep fat fryer…****


	19. Chapter 19

Warning: violence and death ahead! 

Chapter 19: Balamb

Cloud and Vincent walked down a long, winding cement road, the one they had seen when they had first arrived in Gaia in fact. It was surprising well maintained although they had yet to see any vehicles or people it. The only conversation they had while walking was by Cloud when he mentioned a set of some sort of strange playing cards that Zell had given him when he saw Cloud leaving Garden for the week. Cloud had originally thought he was offering to have a game of poker when they got back, but the cards weren't anything like he was used to, he couldn't figure out any type of card game he knew that these cards could be used for.

The sun seemed to bear down on the two, both having grown up in cold Nibelheim and the sheltered and air-conditioned Midgar at some point in their lives. They would have been more comfortable in the snow-capped mountains to the north of the island, rather than walking further south. Vincent soon regretted wearing his long, dark coat, but stubbornly refused to show weakness to Cloud by taking it off. He soon wished he had thought of buying a cap to shade his head like Cloud, but would rather get sunburnt than wear something so clearly meant to symbolise Meteor. _'Would the Jenova in me allow to be get sunburnt?'_ Vincent pondered as he trudged on;he had been out in the sun for days at a time on Planet and never got any more tanned while travelling with AVALANCHE than when he first started, he stole as glace at Cloud, he was as pale as Vincent himself was.

It took nearly two hours to get to the town of Balamb, Vincent had predicted ninetyminutes, but their shorter, teenage legs made the journey longer than expected. Together they stood by the entrance of Balamb next to a car rental outlet and inspected the town. When Vincent saw Cloud eyeing up some of the new and powerfullooking motorbikes on offer he gave a small cough and walked further into the town knowing that Cloud would follow.

"What are we doing here Cloud?" Vincent asked as he adjusted his backpack. Balamb had the look of a seaside resort; new arcades, shops, hotels and the odd house gave the place a slightly cheesy look. Once the town may have been a simple place, but now it was full of small children clutching buckets and spades, ice cream vendors and cheap souvenir stands. Vincent silently thanked planet that they hadn't arrived during the summer's busy period. The place reminded him of Costal del Sol, only the people here, thankfully, wore more clothes.

Vincent resisted the urge to tug at the neck of his collar due to the heat; he noticed Cloud looked hot too, Garden must have been air-conditioned, strange how he hadn't noticed that while there.

"We need some supplies, just in case we run outta MP or something. See if they have any new weapons or accessories of any use." Cloud gave Vincent a meaningful look "You know the drill Vincent, see if you can steal something." ****

Vincent gazed at Cloud, his eyes drilling into him, "I do not steal, that is for you, Yuffie and Tifa to do."

"Well guess what? They're dead, so now it's your job." Cloud snapped harshly, he fished around in his bag and pulled out a yellow materia. "Right, here's a steal materia, born when we fought Ruby Weapon so Exp is still pretty low. You stick with the people, I'll check out the stores." Cloud threw the yellow ball to Vincent, who caught it scowling and stalked away. ****

_'I am NOT here to be a thief, I gave up on that when I joined the Turks._' Vincent thought angrily as he passed a hotel with a poorly painted fish sign on it, it looked like a child had painted it. _'I will not run around stealing objects that we will never even use! All those Elixirs and X-potions we found, never used them! That was a complete waste of my time…then again, seems like I've got all the time in the world now…damn you Hojo…'_ Vincent abruptly stopped his inward ranting in shock as a lean figure wrapped in a long black cloak strolled gracefully past him, normally he would just have kept walking, but a glint of sliver hair under the hood made Vincent's breath catch. _'Dear Holy no! Please don't let that be Sephiroth!'_ As the figure walked down towards the harbour, Vincent followed, making sure to keep far enough back to not arouse suspicions, but close enough so that if he decided to turn down an ally Vincent would be able to tell which one. As they drew closer to the strong scent of the sea, fish and boats, the crowds thinned until it was only the two of them left. 'I_ guess not many people go here since Balamb is a tourist attraction so people don't fish for a living anymore'_ he thought while trying to block out the almost overpowering smell of decaying fish and other sea creatures from his heightened sense of smell.****

The cloaked figure soon stopped beside a small fishing boat and simply stood there, as Vincent contemplated actually going over and seeing if it was indeed Sephiroth,two other figures in long black cloaks moved out of a dark alley and moved next to the first. Curious, Vincent watched. One cloak seemed to be hiding someone who was tall and very bulky, probably male, and muscles rather than fat judging on how he stood and moved, he looked to have a staff or pole hidden too. The other person had a sword of some kind under his cloak as the material bulged where a sword tip would be found if one hung at his waist, the swords-man turned to face the other two, '_Most likely the leader'_ Vincent thought.

Vincent carefully stepped further into the shadows of the buildings nearby and walked silently towards the cloaked people and into hearing distance.

"…on! Please! I just wanna drink, ya know." The bulky man was saying, or rather pleading to the leader.

"No, we don't have enough money left for your stupid caffeine addiction. Plus, we would be discovered if we go near the shops, Chicken boy's Ma works in the café and she'd know who we are as soon as she saw us and you know that. So SHUT UP! I'm sick of your constant complaining."

The silvered haired figure turned and suddenly kicked the bulky man…hard. '_Defiantly _not _Sephiroth.'_ Vincent thought as he watched. Sephiroth was not one to go around randomly kicking people for the hell of it. He almost left, but instead decided to stay and watch the bulky man hop around while clutching his right leg, this was more interesting then beating up random people for items. Vincent clutched his steal materia tighter as he thought of Cloud's orders.

"Awww, Fujin! Don't!" The man hoping around complained loudly, drawing Vincent back to the trio. _'Weird name, sounds Wutanese.'_

The leader suddenly clamed a hand over the bulky man's face. Had Vincent's hearing not been so enhanced he would never have heard the leader's next words that were quietly hissed, "How many times have I told you? NEVER say our names. If SeeD knew we were here, they wouldn't stop till we were dead. So shut up and stay here with her till I get back." He turned to the woman "Keep an eye on him."

"AFFIRMATIVE" Fujin gave a salute that Vincent recognised to be from Garden.

_'Well, now that was interesting.' _With that the leader stalked off with the stride of someone who knew no one would dare get in his way, and if they did, they'd get what was coming to them. Vincent had a sudden urge to leap out and attack him, not liking his cocky attitude, but managed to restrain himself before the man got too close. He walked like Rufus or one of the Turks.

After a few minutes of silence where the two figures stood about looking bored, Vincent decided to check out the harbour out and see if there were any items he could use lying about. There was no point coming back empty handed. People always were dropping useful things when in a hurry, and the harbour looked like it normally was a busy place to be, or at least _used_ to be a busy place. The place looked more or less deserted.

Vincent stepped out of the shadows and casually looked about the harbour area as he walked. His sharp eyes picked up nothing of any use, but as he turned to leave, one of the black figures moved away from the boat he was guarding and moved over to him. Vincent stopped and eyed the figure, it seemed to be the bulky man, from this close up Vincent could tell that the cloak was definitely covering a large muscled man, not simply an overweight one. He hated it how he now had to look up to people, not down on them.

"Yes?" He asked in a cold voice

The man looked taken aback for a moment, hearing the iciness in the voice of what he assumed was a young teenager. Under the hood Vincent could see him frown and then start grinning again at him. "I just wondered if ya wanted a game o' cards?" He asked while holding up a battered looking deck of playing cards.

"Why?"

The man shrugged, "Bored, want something to do." He bent closer to Vincent "Don't tell Fujin though, she thinks I'm over here asking ya what ya're doing wandering 'bout, ya know?"

Vincent frowned at the man; he seemed to be in his early twenties or late teens and was wearing some very baggy clothes with a piece of red rope holding his pants up. '_Maybe I can find out what's going on with this whole SeeD thing, after all even an ex-Turk hates the unknown, and it may be dangerous if I don't know everything about what's going on here. He may be of use later.'_

"Poker?" He asked, he had a fantastic poker face, not even Rude had been able to tell what he was thinking when they had played, although Vincent was prepared to admit that when they had played, Rude had been a Turk in training and only a kid.

"You sound just like Fujin, ya know. I've never heard of the Poker rule before, I always play the Sudden Death and Elemental rules, that okay if we jus' use them?"

Vincent could feel one of his eyebrows rising in confusion before he could stop it, _'What is he going on about?'_ Before he had a chance to ask, a familiar scent appeared behind him along with a set of footsteps that were getting steadily closer. The ex-Turk turned and saw Cloud walking towards them, his Ultima Weapon seemingly to glow over his shoulder now the sunlight was directly hitting it from overhead.

"What's going on?" Cloud asked as he eyed the cloaked man. Vincent knew exactly was Cloud was doing, assessing how much of a threat the man was. Soon Cloud looked over to where Fujin stood behind them next to the boat watching him in return, her face unreadable due to the cloak's hood. Which brought up the very interesting question up of how on Planet they were not dying of heat exhaustion due to the thickness of the material.

"Just wanted a game of cards, ya know." He held up his hands showing he didn't want a fight

Cloud grinned and held out his right hand, holding the pack of cards he had been giving by Zell earlier that day. "He doesn't play, but I do. I'll play you, but if I win I get your boat she's guarding, and all the items you have."

The man looked over his shoulder at Fujin and the motorised wooden rowing boat, "…High stakes, but ok. If I win though, I get…erm….your weapons and armour."

"Right." Cloud nodded, eager to test out his new skills. "Want to go somewhere less in the way than the middle of the harbour?"

"Yeah, sure." The trio made there way over to the edge of the harbour where they sat on the edge of the raised platform, just off to the left of where Fujin was stood.

Vincent quietly hissed to the blonde mercenary "Cloud, are you sure about this, you don't even know how to play. Plus, our weapons are worth a hell of a lot more than their boat and items."

Cloud smirked, "Its fine, I asked some woman by the train station, she told me how to play, sounds really easy. She called herself Queen of Hearts or something like that, she seemed to know what she was on about. Odd name though, since these cards don't have hearts, clubs, spades or diamonds on them like normal cards do."

"What if you loose?"

"Don't worry, I wont. I'm a fast learner, you should know that by now."

Vincent suppressed a groan and watched with wary anticipation as the players chose their best cards to play; he didn't want to loose another good rifle. Although, Cloud minus a sword the length of his body was always a good thing.

_5 minutes later:_

Cloud couldn't believe it…. he'd lost…how could he possibly have lost? No way was he going to give up the Ultima Weapon to this overweight freak! He glared at the man who had taken away all of the cards Cloud had used in the game as a reward, not simply one, but all! He only had three left now. How was he supposed to know that if all his cards were overturned that the other guy would get them? This was his first game! He glanced at Vincent sitting beside him, his ruby eyes widened slightly in shock, _'Why did I have to loose so bad in front of him of all people?'_ Cloud thought to himself bitterly. He turned his head back to glare at the man who had so efficiently beaten him; he was currently dancing in the middle of the deserted harbour like a little kid.

Cloud felt his hand twitch towards his sword in annoyance when the man passed close to him.

"Oh yeh! I win! I win! I'm the best, ya know! I can sell their, I mean MY, stuff and buy caffeine and real food and a bed!"

Cloud slowly stood up from where he had been crouched on the floor for the game, Vincent followed suit while clutching his rifle through his long coat obviously not wanting to give it up. _'Why did I bet the weapons? Damnit! I had to fight Ultima Weapon four times for this sword!'_

Sensing danger brought on from living on the streets in childhood, Fujin left guarding the boat and carefully walked over to themwhen her partner starting cheering, while keeping an eye two obviously enraged teens.

"RAIJIN"

Raijin immediately stopped his dancing and faced Fujin with a grin on his face. "Fujin, I've just won us some good weapons and stuff we can sell! We can sleep in a real bed tonight!" He made to grab her hands to make her dance too, but froze before he managed to actually touch her, he didn't want to be kicked again…it hurt.

For a moment Cloud was shocked out of his anger by the young woman, the silver hair and slim figure reminded him of Sephiroth; although she was a lot shorter than the boss**,** she could have been his sister. But his anger soon returned when Raijin asked for him to hand over the promised goods.

"Like hell I am!"

Raijin stopped dancing once more and froze on the spot, "Ya what?"

"You heard me," Cloud scowled, "you're not having the Ultima Weapon. Want it, come and get it."

"We made a deal, ya know! You can't take it back now! I won fair and square."

"AFFIRMATIVE" Fujin agreed

Cloud quickly drew his weapon and got into his fighting pose. Vincent followed suit, throwing back his coat to reveal Heaven's Peace.

Fujin and Raijin exchanged eager looks before both hastily taking off the black cloaks, Fujin took out some sort of Pinwheel that looked a lot like Yuffie's Conformer, while Raijin held a long wooden pole ready.

_'How do I always get involved with all this stuff?'_ Vincent thought to himself as Raijin twirled the pole in his hand, _'All I ever wanted to do was to be left alone in my coffin, but noooooo…'_ Deep inside, Vincent could feel Chaos struggling to get loose to join the battle about to start, but he had to suddenly spring back when Fujin tried to hit him with some strange wind magic, in shock Chaos retreated. _'There is no honour in that, she didn't even wait for us to get ready properly.' _Countering, he shot at Fujin, she managed to block one of the armour piercing rounds with the Pinwheel, but the other hit her in her right shoulder and carried on through it. She had good reflexes, he had to give her that.

Vincent grinned inwardly, he had disabled her throwing arm without killing her. But the grin soon turned into a frown as Raijin cast Curaga onto her and the bullet hole healed up instantly. How come Cure materia didn't heal that well? He _really_ needed to know how or why their healing spells worked so much better than anything Cloud or himself had done before.

"Ya gonna have ta do better than that!" Raijin yelled happily, his pole held behind him and one arm held forwards.

"Gladly." Cloud said calmly as he rushed over to meet Raijin, Vincent noticed a yellow materia on his sword glow for an instant, he recognised it as Cloud's mastered Double Cut materia. He fired a few more damaging, but not killing, shots as Cloud charged, before he needed to reload.

Cloud brought up his weapon and slashed Raijin on the upward stoke, the man fell backwards clutching his face as blood poured out between his fingers. Vincent had to give the man some credit;he hadn't made a sound, not even when Cloud slashed deeply across his ribs twice and then thrust Ultima Weapon through his leg, almost cutting it off. But then he gave off a low moan of pain, Vincent felt a strange surge of pity for the guy, but it was instantly suppressed. _'I'm getting too good at this suppressing game, I would rather not forget chunks of my life like Cloud…well, maybe a few choice years.'_

Raijin fell to the ground in a pool of steadily growing blood, still clutching his face. Fujin rushed to his side, while keeping an eye on Cloud and Vincent in case they attacked.

"RAIJIN…. UP!"

Vincent would never attack someone tending their friends or partners, and lowered his rifle, waiting until she got up. But obviously the 'new and improved' Cloud didn't believe this as he calmly cast Comet 2 on them with a smirk that looked very Sephiroth-like on his face, and didn't seem right on his face somehow.

A number of small and large comets crashed down through the clouds above them, smashing repeatedly into the two Gaians. Vincent shielded his eyes from the dust, debris and chunks of cement that was thrown up into the air from the impact zone. When the dust had settled Vincent quickly looked at their opponents, Raijin lied limply on the ground, his body placed at awkward angles, even someone not an expert in fighting injuries like him would be able to tell that no Life materia or Phoenix Down made was going to bring him back. His eyes stared out towards to sea, thankfully not at Vincent. He wanted no more nightmares or sins to cause them, and a pair of teenage eyes staring at him, accusing him of murder, would have been one such event.

Fujin and Cloud seemed to realise at the same time that Raijin wasn't getting back up. Cloud grinned as Fujin suddenly started screaming in anguish, blood running down her face from the comet attack, her left arm obviously broken as the bone could be seen sticking through the skin. Turning the scream as a battle cry she charged at Cloud as though Berserked, all rational thoughts of how she couldn't win gone to the wind.

Cloud simply smirked at her, while indicating to Vincent to sit this out by moving his sword in a well know sign by anyone who had been around him long. Vincent hesitated but moved backwards a few steps away from the fight.

Fujin started slashing at Cloud using her Missile Blade to try and cause as much damage as possible by tearing it into her enemy. Cloud easily evaded most of her attacks, only gaining a few nicks on his arms and face. But Fujin didn't seem to realise how little damage she was doing as she brought the weapon over her head and swept it downwards in an arc perfected by years of training.

Cloud dodged that one particularly close attack by ducking under it, but Fujin managed to slice off one of Cloud's spikes from his headas one of the many edges of her Missile Blade caught it. Seeing it fall, she jumped back and smirked at Cloud as he caught it in one hand.

"_No one _cuts my hair." He said in an icy voice, laced with rage****

Vincent felt Cloud's limit break suddenly flair up, although the few hits he had takencouldn't have caused it. Fujin seemed to realise her mistake as her eyes widened and she took another step back.

Cloud practically flew at her, his sword flashing in the sunlight as he brought it down on her again and again. Vincent didn't want to watch, but forced himself to, seeing this on a human was completely different from monsters. Slicing her across her face, stomach, chest, legs and back Fujin was finally brought down. Cloud snarled at her and stormed towards the boat, leaving her for dead next to his other victim.

Vincent quickly went over to her; she was still alive, but barely. He felt around his clothes, but didn't have anything to heal her with, or at least ease or suffering. His human hand found a small bag he'd almost forgotten about…Sleeping powder… inside it was a low level Cure materia, he almost cheered. He moved over to the man, he didn't have any materia or items either; Vincent wasn't sure how he'd managed to heal Fujin before, but it wasn't anything that he could find. '_Probably that damn drawing thing, I really need to find out how to do it._' Moving back to Fujin, he placed her head on his knees as she started coughing up blood from her punctured lungs.

"…hurts…" she whispered before starting to bring up more blood

"I know, hold on it'll be okay." He lied, "Just have a rest and you'll be fine." He concentrated on the materia, "**CURE"** A few cuts closed up, but the majority were still bleeding pretty badly.

"Raijin?"

Vincent glanced over to her friend's mutilated corpse, as he concentrated to try again "He will be fine with a good Cure spell."

She gave Vincent a small smile, "…'kay…"

And in his arms, she died.

****

_Balamb beach:_

Seifer sat wrapped in his cloak on a small boulder, safe from prying eyes as he was surrounded on three sides by even larger rocks and debris from a rock fall, but he still was getting a great view of the sea. Maybe he shouldn't have been so hard on Fujin and Raijin, out of everyone of the whole stinking planet, they had stuck by him. Even going to his greatest enemy Squall to try and get him to knock some sense into him. Anyone else would have turned him into SeeD or the local authorities, but they had remained loyal all this time. He had a few gill left, maybe he should use it to buy a few cans of cola or something. They all deserved some treats, Gaia and Sorceresses had done enough to them without him making it worse.

Having finally decided what to do, at least for now, Seifer jumped down from the boulder and made his way back into town while wishing he had chosen a thinner disguise than the cloaks.

Seifer left the small café, he was sure that Dincht's Ma had realised who he was, but surprisingly hadn't said a word, he hoped she wasn't ringing Garden at this very moment. Refusing to look over his shoulder to see if anyone was following him, Seifer quickened his pace as he walked past the town's main hotel and into the old harbour. He glanced at his watch, he'd been about an hour, '_I hope Fujin hasn't killed Raijin with me being gone so long.'_

Seifer looked towards the water as soon as he turned the last corner, where were the others? He'd gone to the trouble of getting them drinks Raijin had been whingeing about, and they'd gone. To that matter the boat had as well, seemed like that had finally abandoned him, well he couldn't say he was surprised. Actually, he was, he never would have seriously thought they would leave him, they were like family or something! More so than the stupid 'orphanage gang' back at Garden.

Sighing, Seifer started to walk towards the sea where the boat had been. After a few steps he stumbled across something lying on the floor. Catching his balance, Seifer turned around and looked at the thing he'd tripped over.

"…Guys?"

He fell to the ground with a thud, legs no longer able to keep him upright, as he stared at the bodies of his best and only friends.

_Authors note:_

_ I know I said this was going to be up earlier, but my dad caught me writing this the day before one of my exams. So got kinda banned from writing till they were over…_

_But I hope this chapter was worth the wait! And now I have nothing to do for two months until uni, should get more up, BECAUSE –dum dum dummmmm- it was voted to keep going! Thanks to everyone who asked/told me to carry on, cos without it I never would have! I was practically bouncing (ok ok I actually was) when I started getting peoples telling me to carry on! _

_So thank you to _**_spikestrife _**_(yup, its as dead as they come! And I love your reviews); **electronicgamer3** (you really made my day!); _**_Jo-C13_**_ (short but sweet, thanx); _**_Falcon Strife_**_ (don't know how you knew they were appearing, but they went fast too, love your reviews nearly every chapter!); **MasterWraithe**__ (thanks! Means alot); **Edward** (loved your comment XD); **Yukata **(I updated! See??); **Yuleen75** (hope u didn't think the wait was too long): **Andy Lupin** (woooo! Another short but sweet one! Thanx); **Macky **(erm…there was big fight over who got the drink, while no1 was looking Zell ran off with it to cook his own hotdogs, couldn't figure out how to do it so got mad and bust the machine…); **Johnny** (I'll see wot I can do); **Vincents-Soul** (hope not!); **Precious Fire** (I love your name); **Katie** (always love your reviews, and you'll see about the dog later!); **Edward** (its here!); **Afro-Rican** (never really thought about it, I might give it a try!); **Chip** (bit longer just for you)._

_And thanks to everyone else who read this, but didn't review._


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Deals 

Squall and Irvine were sat on swivel chairs in the corner of Dr Odine's lab, they had been asked to be quiet and stay out of the way while some tests of the poisonous substance were being done. They had been sat for a few hours of not-so-patiently waiting, where Squall tried his hardest to block out the thought of Laguna being his father, and of that poor dog dying so horribly, '_Rinoa would kill me if she ever found out'_ he thought as he watched Irvine picking idly at his long tan coat. There were various tables, tubes, bunsen burners, chemicals and all sorts or equipment ranging from small hand held devices to huge machines that were as tall as Irvine. Squall wondered why he had never been in this room when he was in Esthar ****before, full as it was of scientists running around and half finished experiments.

Eventually, Dr Odine's assistant, Susan, walked over to the SeeD to tell themof what had been discovered so far. Irvine stood up politely when she stopped in front on them and tilted his hat at her in acknowledgment; Squall simply stared at her as he normally did, mentally willing her to hurry up.

"We have found out a lot in only a short space of time." She said as Irvine snorted in disgust, this was one of the longest 'short space of time' he'd ever had. "There are some strange…differences in the blood that we wouldn't expect." She twirled around a stray lock of her hair around a finger as she spoke, obviously still unsure about the results. "In every person there is an…energy source, so to speak. It flows in us and keeps us alive-"

"Blood?" Irvine interrupted wanting to speed up the conversation so he could leave sooner. Squall glanced at him sharply, warning him to be quiet.

"No, it's a type of energy, everyone and everything alive has it has it, and it's very similar to the energy we harness from Gaia to power Esthar. Until quite recently we didn't know it existed, but once we found it, it was easy to convert to household electricity. Raw, it is a bright white colour, but when we separated it from the blood sample, it was a bright green." She looked pointedly at the two men, who simply stared blankly back at her, not realising the importance of the statement.

Assistant Susan sighed, "Its like there's something contaminating the blood, a virus of some sort. It's not how it should be**, **to put it simply. We're hypothesising that the assassin's body has adapted to this virus somehow. When this came into contact with the energy in the dog, we believe there was a 50:50 chance the dog would either have died or mutate into something else. In this case it died, the natural energy in the dog destroyed itself in order to kill this contamination, and by doing so, the subject died."

She held up a small test tube of glowing green liquid, and another of sparkling white. Turning to a dark blue glass table behind her, she poured them both into an empty metal flask. "Now watch. And please bear in mind that the green, contaminated, energy is highly diluted because we don't have much of it…for now."

Irvine and Squall moved over to the table, eyes glued to the flask, still not exactly sure of what the assistant meant but still fascinated with it. The two colours refused to merge, looking like coloured water and oil and reminding Squall of the wax in the lava lamp Selphie had bought him for his 18th birthday. ****For a while nothing happened, and just when Squall was about to ask what they were waiting for, suddenly the green substance started to glow with a dazzling light, causing the three watching to cover their eyes by throwing up their arms in protection.

When the light faded, the flask was filled with a think black sludge, which for some unknown reason, made Squall and Irvine feel ill. ****

"Wha- what happened?" Squall asked not being able to move his eyes from the disgusting… thing in the glass.

"The green energy tried to contaminate the white, so it sacrificed itself to destroy the virus. This virus seems to be very dangerous, but if there is more green thenwhite, the virus wins and the white changes colour. Making the whole body infected."

"So, if there's more of the virus… stuff than thenormal kind, the virus wins and makes more of itself?" Irvine asked trying to get his head around what was being said.

Susan nodded, and smoothed down her white coat nervously, "To put it simply, yes, that's correct. We're not sure what the contamination does, especially to humans. Give us more time to make some, or rather pollute the normal energy, turning it into this abomination, and we can tell you. It shouldn't take too long." ****

Irvine sighed, and heavily, sat back down in his chair, his eyes still fixed to the sickening black liquid. "No point finding an inn now, I wont be able to sleep after this." He mumbled to himself, still feeling a bit nauseous after looking at the black liquid that just seemed… wrong… for some reason. It looked a bit like bottled tar or oil if he squinted. "What if we'd got some of that blood on us?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't think it would be good." The assistant replied softly.

"Does this energy have a name then?" Asked Squall, not liking the substances being unnamed.

"The white we call Pure Energy, and green, The Virus."

_Balamb, Old Harbour_

Seifer heard footsteps hurrying his way, he needed to go, he couldn't be caught now. But the gunblade master was torn between his friends and his freedom, something he never thought possible. He had always just looked out for himself in the past, knowing that his posy would be okay no matter what happened, '_I'm so stupid, I should never have left them, this is all my fault'_.

Gently he closed Rajin's eyes, and moved Fujin's hair back from her face, she always hated it getting in her way, though refused to get it cut any shorter, and in the last couple of years it had grown a fair bit. He hoped it had been quick and painless.

"HEY YOU THERE!" A man's voice barked as he ran into the harbour towards the stricken young man.

In a split second Seifer realised there was nothing more he could do for his friends, expect to avenge them, of course that went without saying, buthe had to go, _now_. Being caught and executed was not how they'd have wanted him to go after all they had been through together. _'I'll get whoever did this to you, I swear._'

He slowly stood up and started to leave the harbour area, passing a tall, lanky man who he assumed was doing the shouting. Seifer saw his mouth moving, obviously saying something to him, but his ears heard nothing except a faint roaring noise, he needed help and knew just where to get it from. Although it would cost him more than just money.

As Seifer hurried past, the man suddenly stretched out and clutched onto Seifer's black cloak, trying to stop him and get him to explain what had happened. The blonde simply drew his gunblade and pushed him away roughly with its flat edge,not realising what he was doing, but not hurting the man more than a blade-shaped bruise. Leaving the man gaping behind him, Seifer carried on.

He walked past the main hotel and through the busy crowd in disgust; he hated what Balamb had become, what happened to the little push over town that he knew and loved? It was just a matter of time before the whole thing was irreversible and the place became a real holiday resort. It made him feel sick, the place was practically his hometown, he'd grown up here on the streets when not in Garden training or in lessons, his earliest memory was of playing on the beach with his posse after stealing the metal collar he'd worn ever since around his neck. He knew he was trying to get his mind off the horror he had just seen, but it didn't work, everything in his life rotated around Fujin and Raijin really. Every thought somehow came back to them…or Squall. He lowered the hand that had been clutched around the collar as it began to choke him. ****

Seifer suddenly started sprinting, weaving through the crowds, trying to get out Balamb as quick as he could. His cloak flew out behind him, but luckily for them no one tried to stop him, he wouldn't be responsible for his own actions if someone tried anything. It was as though for a while he could outrun his thoughts and let the burning of his muscles drive away his pain. Once out onto the Balamb Garden road, he raced down it, knowing that the only help he could get was at its end.

_Balamb Garden, outside_

Quistis was sat on the steps leading up into Garden with Rinoa at one side of her, tapping her fingers against the stone. They were waiting impatiently until lessons had finished at 7 pm so they could tail the two Valentine brothers. Even though neither had any lessons to teach for a change, they refused to leave out of the principle of the thing, and a need to be an example to the few young children that trained there now. So many had left now, it was strange not seeing the same boy running around the fountain in the main hall almost every waking hour. '_Why did I never bother asking what his name was? Its not like I didn't see him everyday I was here.'_ Realising she was loosing track of what was important, Quistis shook her head to clear her thoughts and went back to watching the Balamb plains and her watch alternately.

After a few minutes more of staring blankly into the distance, Rinoa nudged her and looked pointedly down the road leading to Balamb. A tall, lone figure was jogging towards Garden; a black cape was flying out behind.

Quistis frowned as the person drew closer to them and stopped at the bottom of the steps Rinoa and her were sat on. A hood shadowed his face, making it impossible for her to make out any facial features. But the man was obviously staring at them both, trying to decide what to do. '_He must be fit though'_, Quistis reasoned, '_to have run all this way and barely be out of breath'_. Slowly Rinoa stood up and moved over to the man. She made as though to touch his face, but stopped her hand about half way between them, unsure of what to do.

"Seifer?" She asked slowly as she looked up at the tall figure.

Quistis looked in amazement as the man lifted back his hood to reveal the blonde Sorceress' knight staring coldly back at them both. His once constant smirk was gone; the arrogant but childlike gleam in his eyes had been replaced by something else, making them look as hard as iron. After the last Sorceress war, she'd seen people with the same look once the fighting was over,although had never dared to ask what had happened to them. Something definitely had happened to him and not to long ago, but before she had a chance to ask, Rinoa had slapped Seifer hard across the face, making him stagger back slightly.

"Seifer! You Jerk! How could you do all this to us? To me?"

For a second no one moved, but then Rinoa burst out sobbing and ran back into Garden, away from the two blondes. Seifer looked at her retreating figure blankly, not seeming to take in what had just happened as he gently rubbed his cheek.

Quistis wanted to go follow one of her best friends, but Seifer was a threat and she had to keep an eye on him, then either arrest or kill him, as was right by SeeD rules. So she pretended Rinoa had never been there, and did her SeeD duty. "Ready to turn yourself in now? You've had us on quite a chase, last lead we had you were in FH. We've got quite a few governments and organisations after your head." She said cockily as she crossed her arms, not letting her curiosity and need to make sure he was alright be shown in her words or body language.

"Quistis…don't" Seifer said in a voice cracked with pain. Quistis immediately dropped the act in concern, 'S_crew the rules'_.

"What happened?" Quistis placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, big sister mode automatically coming on without her realising.

Seifer looked down at his feet before looking her in the eyes for the fist time in months, "Fujin and Raijin were…murdered a few hours ago."

Quistis gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

"It was beyond violent, and I have no idea who did it. I want SeeD to help me get whoever murdered them."

Quistis nodded "I'll do what I can, but you know how many people blame you for the last Sorceress war, it could be anyone who killed them."

"No, it was someone very powerful, Fujin and Raijin are no weaklings. They ca- could, defend themselves." Seifer growled at her.

Quistis held up her hands in apology, "I didn't mean it that way, lets go inside and talk to Xu. Her and myself are looking after Garden while Squall's away for a few days on a business trip, but she's in charge of missions."

Seifer nodded slowly at his mentally pulled himself together, he couldn't let others see him with anything less than a cocksure attitude, though he allowed Quistis to steer him inside Garden and towards the main hall and lift.

As soon as he stepped inside Garden properly, he flung back his cloak, letting anyone see his trademark grey trench coat and forced himself to walk in his normal arrogant way. Sneering, with a hand resting on his gunblade, at anyone who dared to look his way.

_Balamb Garden, Xu's office_

"Quistis! How can you _possibly_ think that this is even a _remotely_ good idea???" Xu yelled at Quistis while pointing a slightly trembling finger at Seifer, her other hand clenched into a fist by her side. "Do you realise how much trouble you've got Garden into by letting him in? We'll have the entire civilised world after SeeD blood, especially _your_ blood. I thought by reinstating you as both a SeeD and instructor you'd have some sense! But I see not!!"

As Xu took a pause in her ranting to catch her breath, Quistis quickly butted in. "We will have no trouble, because according to international law, SeeD have no allegiance to any country, or person other than those in Garden or their employers. So we don't have to hand over anyone we have. Right now I am working for Seifer, and so Garden has a right to protect him, just like I have." Seifer glanced at Quistis in surprise before quickly smoothing his face back into an expressionless mask he'd learnt from observing Squall over the years. He hadn't really mentioned a possible contract with Garden, never mind having Quistis as his hired SeeD. Though she was one of the few he would have chosen if given a choice, '_Even if she does make me want to strangle her once a day'_, and that was what he had come here for after all, not to kill a SeeD but to hire one. _'She knows me too well if she can guess what I want without saying anything more than a passing comment about it. That's worrying.'_ "By handing him over to another country we are breaking our contract, spoken or otherwise."

Xu drew a calming breath and through clenched teeth hissed "I think we can make an exception for _him_."

"And what would Squall do if we had Seifer executed while he was away?" Quistis asked, knowing exactly what Xu had been hinting at.

Xu glared at the blonde woman standing in front of her, "Fine then, you made the deal, you're the one working for him, but I'm _not_ sending you out alone with _him_. You're taking someone else who can help in case of trouble, like Rinoa."

"I don't think that's such a good idea. She doesn't seem to be all to happy with me for some reason." Seifer pointed out sarcastically, as he crossed his arms, demanding attention.

"Then all the more reason for it to be her. You have enough money to pay for two of our highest ranking SeeDs don't you?"

"Of course." Seifer lied '_Good job they don't ask for money up front' _he thought as he rolled his eyes for emphasis. __

"Fine, Quistis, I'll draw up the contract while you tell Rinoa her new assignment," Xu smirked at them, knowing how angry Rinoa would be, she was named 'The Angel' because of her powers, not her temper after all.

Seifer and Quistis resisted the urge to glance at each other for reassurance, and instead calmly walked out of the office, not bothering with the standard salute and marching that Xu deserved as oldest living SeeD. Both showed a mask of icy indifference as they went, but inside desperately worried about what Gaia's mightiest sorceress, with the power of two other sorceress inside her, would do to them when she found out she was working for an Ex who had tried to kill her on repeated occasions.

_Ocean, South East of Dollet_

Cloud threw up _again_, he was already regretting stealing this damn boat, actually he had been as soon as he set foot into it. His head was resting on the edge of the boat so it stuck up over the side so if he was sick again he wouldn't have to move too much; he clutched his stomach tightly and groaned.****

'_I hate my life, I hate the sea, I hate this boat, I hate consciousness!!'_ he looked over to Vincent who was sat by the motor with his legs stretched out comfortably in front of him as he steered north west towards land '_I hate Vincent, stupid "I do not get sea sick" freak. Where's Yuffie when you need her? She was worse than me, and somehow it made it a little better… I'm gonna be sick again.'_ Cloud groaned again and started heaving over the side of the boat, but everything he'd eaten had been thrown up hours ago, and nothing came out.

After a minute, it stopped and he lied down at the bottom of the boat, resting his head on his backpack, his sword stowed away with Vincent's rifle in a compartment on which Vincent was sitting in order to steer the boat. His throat was sore, his stomach felt like a washing machine, his head ached, and for some reason it was making all his muscles feel like jelly…_painful_ jelly.

"Vincent…" Cloud whined like the teenager he appeared to be. He rested his bandaged left arm over his eyes to block out the bright sunlight, his other arm and legs spread eagle across the hull.

"Yes?" Vincent asked, tearing his ruby eyes away from a map of the world he had found next to a compass with some other travelling and navigation equipment.

"I don't feel so good."

Vincent smiled in amusement, his canines catching light from the setting sun, making Cloud shudder and turn even greener than before. Until Vincent had met Cloud and Yuffie he had always thought that people turning green when seasick was a myth. "Then you should not have decided to go to Deling City on a small wooden boat, it is a good job that it is easier to walk from coast to coast rather than sail directly there. We could easily have taken a train instead of doing all this."

"This was my idea? Okay, well next time I say "hey, I know, lets steal a boat although I get as sick as a dog" you have to slap some sense into me, got it? Good." ****

Cloud curled up into a ball, and started to pluck at his gloves that he had taken off when he had first been sick, so they didn't get thrown up all over, to try and take his mind off his stomach. "Don't really like trains either, last time I was on one of them I had to jump off it while it was moving," _'Thought I'd broken my neck when I landed' "_ -and the time before, I spent most of the journey clinging to the roof because no one would open a door for me." He inspected his hands, strange how they weren't lighter than the rest of his skin covered up as they normally were, maybe he didn't tan well. Else the damn Jenova cells in him wouldn't let him tan at all, thinking about it did the Boss or Vincent ever get tanned or sunburnt? Cloud glanced at Vincent, who was back to studying the map. He pretended the scars on the wrists and fingers, from Hojo's experiments and various attempted escapes, weren't there as he turned his attention back to simpler things than the complex Jenova and Mako. Actually, it was strange that he knew why he had them, but didn't know _how_ he got them. Sometimes he really was glad he had little memory of those stolen 5 years or so.

Cloud sighed dramatically and tried not to think of any sick or Hojo-related thoughts as the boat rocked from side to side in the ocean waves.

"I'm gonna be sick"


End file.
